Tremors: Proudfoot Lab
by lizardgizzard
Summary: This is about the movies and the TV show put together. A scientist is sent to Perfection to analyze the labs. Burt finds out he has a son, who is to guard the town and to make sure the scientist stays in line. Throw in some Mixmaster and Grabiods and let the town get interesting. *New Authors note: Will be including latest movie.
1. Chapter 1

The black sky shimmered away its twinkling lights one by one to fade into a blue. Birds chirped as they woke up from their silent slumber. Rumbling through the desert terrain, a camo painted un-Humvee, an Beijing Jeep Bj2S "The Warrior" with a variety of artillery in cases, shells in boxes, computer satellite equipment hooked up and a couple survival packs stuffed into the corners. The driver looked at his wrist-seismo, alarms go off when graboids are coming, to view the time. He then clicks on his recorder.  
"Burt Gummer, here, o'three hundred hours and still have not found the government hidden laboratory. I have located the quadrants, but to no avail, I have not found the entrance." He paused looking to the screen. "My location has shown me the covered up road, but still no entrance. This is day 62 from first information given onto this lab. I will not stop until I have found it, searched everything of its inhabitants and any other secrets the government has been hiding from us. Burt, out," Burt clicked his recorder off. He drove around the quadrants but still could not find the lab. He looked at his seismo again and decided to take a break from his little adventure and head back to Perfection, to fulfill his daily routine.  
While he was turning around, he spotted something with his rearview mirror. He then kept turning the vehicle back into the same direction. Burt started to speed. What he saw was a figure walking as almost as if they were about to pass out. He skidded the jeep to a halt and ran out just as the figure fell to the ground. It was a young woman around her twenties. She had light brown hair and light skin. Her eyes were closed and her lips were cracked. Burt immediately recognized that she was dehydrated. He pulled out his flask, opening in seconds and giving her the life substance. Her eyelids fluttered open to reveal ocean blue eyes.  
Burt looked down at her after she took the flask for herself. She was dressed in white cargo pants with white combat boots. Her shirt was a white tank top. Her hair had been in a braid but had flyaways. The young woman drank all she could and finally drifted off to sleep. Burt picked her up and laid her down in the back seat of his jeep. He noticed a wrist seismo and a couple of claw marks on her arm. His hand reached for his radio when he noticed that there was blood.  
Burt clicked onto his radio "Nancy, Jodi, Rosalita, Tyler Come in, Burt here." They all responded to him. "While searching for the government laboratory, I came across a situation," he paused for he didn't know how to explain what he was going to say next. "A young woman by the looks of her twenties. She is dehydrated, out of energy, and has passed out, Nancy, Jodi. I'm coming to you. Over and out."  
Burt sped as fast as he safely could to get to town. Jodi and Nancy were already outside waiting for him to arrive. Burt slowed to a stop. The ladies rushed to Burt, looking for the young woman. She was still passed out in the back of the jeep. Burt grabbed her to set her inside away from the sun. The ladies followed inside of Changs Market. There he set her down onto counter top.  
Nancy started checking her pulse while Jodi went to get water, a cold rag, and a first aid kit. Burt started to pace back and forth. The two ladies started to revive the young woman. She started to wake fully. They kept her laying down with a rag upon her forehead.  
The young woman started to look around. Nancy and Jodi made sure she would stay laying down.  
"It's alright, you're safe," Nancy cooed.  
Burt stopped and looked at the young woman. "Who are you? What were you doing over there? What is your background? Do you work for the government?" The woman blinked at him once.  
"Burt!" Jodi demanded. "She isn't going to speak unless you calm down." Burt looked at Jodi then back to the young woman. It was true. Jodi turned to look at Nancy for support then to young woman. "How are you feeling? Is it alright if we take a look at your wounds and take care of you?"  
The young woman looked around at herself then up to Burt then Jodi and Nancy. "I feel fine, thank you." Jodi inclined her eyebrows at Burt who just rolled his eyes and turned to the side while crossing his arms. The young woman continued on as she sat up. "Where am I?"  
"Perfection," Nancy answered. "Can I see your wounds?"  
The young woman became wide eyed for a moment before gaining her composure. "Hm?"She looked at her arm and remembered what had happened. She reached around to her back to feel the wetness and crust of her wound. "Yes please."  
Burt looked at her with hints of delight. "And where were you originally coming from?" He had saw the fright in her eyes. Jodi started to clean her arm while Nancy took a look at her back.  
The young woman inclined an eyebrow. "My camp."  
"What is your name?" Jodi asked seeing the tension between the two.  
"Rose," the young woman heard Nancy gasp after she had cleaned it off.  
"You are going to need a few stitches," Nancy tried to sympathize. She took out the items from the first aid kit.  
"No morphine," Rose imposed. The three looked at her in surprise. Nancy started to stitch into her without even a flinch. Once she was done, Nancy put a bandage over it and put her shirt back down. "Thank you." She moved her legs over to the edge and jumped down. "I would like to be taken back to my camp please."  
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here for a while?" Jodi asked.  
"There are some things I have left unattended," Rose started to walk to the door. "Can you please take me back?"  
Burt looked to the two of them then to her and nodded. Rose was hauled back to a roundabout location where she tricked Burt to taking her. Once he left, she headed in the opposite direction, checking her wrist seismo.  
Once he got back to Chang's Market he met Rosilita and Tyler at the market to get supplies. Burt gave the retelling of how he met Rose and to keep an eye on her. Jodi and Nancy scrutinized him for saying that she is just a young woman. He just looked at them incredulously and told about how this young woman did not look like a regular camper.  
As they were just about to end their discussion, Twitchell came in. Their discussion tapered off real quick and they all knew to keep this under wraps.  
Twitchell gave Jodi papers to pass around to the rest. "Glad all of you are here so I don't have to round you up. I am only going to say this once, and I am not going to repeat myself," he looked straight to Burt. "The government has blocked off certain access to some of areas around Perfection. Any one of you caught peeping your nose into their business, they will escort you out of town."  
Burt looked through the places where they were not allowed to go. "What exactly are they doing in these areas?"  
"We are not allowed to disclose that information, government officials only," Twitchell puffed out his chest.  
"They didn't tell you did they," Tyler called it out.  
Twitchell sighed and let his posture go. "No. My clearance wasn't high enough, but stay out of those areas. Especially you Burt."  
The group dispersed. Burt went back to where Rose was dropped off and to tell her the news that there will be government officials in the area but there was no campsite around. He scouted it in a five mile radius. Nothing.  
A jet black King Ford Ranch with crew cab, 4x4, with a 6.7L Power stroke(R) V8 engine, and limited slip axle came cruising into town. The windows were tinted almost as black as the truck itself. It had a ten inch lift kit with giant all terrain tires. It parked itself in front of Chang's.  
Tyler and Rosalita were talking as they were coming out of the market but both stopped in dead in their tracks to see the Ford. "Wooheee! Well look at that. Someone with money came rolling into town." Rosalita nodded her head in agreement. "You think it's another buyer coming into Perfection trying to buy off our land?"  
Rosalita shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? They could be lost."  
Nancy and Jodi came out to see the truck. As they did the driver door opens up and out steps a tall, light tanned, dark brown haired, green eyed young man. He was in his twenties. They knew instantly that he was chiseled underneath his black t-shirt. He had on khaki cargo pants with black combat boots. Black aviators blocked the sun from his eyes. His hair was medium length. He had silver dog tags around his neck.  
He shut his door and looked over to the group. "Could you tell me where I might find a mister Burt Gummer?" He asked in a deep husky sultry voice.  
The four looked at him with silent questions. Finally Tyler decided to answer him.  
"Well, he's a bit busy right now, he'll be in shortly. Who might you be?" Tyler inclined.  
"Wesson Gummer, his son," he stood there letting the words sink in.  
Rosalita cursed in Spanish. Tyler shook his head. "Well looks like to me Burt is going to have one Hell of a surprise."  
Nancy walked away to go get her walkie talkie and speak to Burt in private.  
"Burt, Nancy here, over," she talked in the market  
"Burt here, over," he replied. "You remember that girl I dropped off, I can't seem to find her anywhere."  
"Burt, there is a bigger issue to attend to. There is someone here for you," she took a breath on the next part. "He says he's your son. Over"  
"My what!" He then started to mumble something about Heather Gummer, that one time where they had tried to bring the spark back, life in general and all things swearing. "I'll be there in a few, over." He finally stated with defeat.  
In thirty minutes, Burt pulled up next to his son's truck. He started too quickly judge who his son might be. Thinking of him, Wesson steps outside with the town right behind him. He walked straight out to Burt. He was as tall as him. Wesson put out his hand to Burt. He took it and shook his hand.  
"Wesson Hiram Gummer," his hand shake was firm.  
"Bertram, Burt, Gummer," he shook back. "You have your mother's eyes." He was a bit taken aback.  
Wesson cocked a half smile. "She told me you would be most likely to say that, dad." It was weird saying it to him finally.  
"How is she doing?" Burt tried not to let it phase him.  
"She's still with grandma," his smile was still there, revealing part of his pearly white teeth.  
"She still checking out the weaponry?" Burt asked. It was a meaning that Heather and he knew of.  
"There are those that seek her fancy, but there is still that one she relies on," Wesson knew what he was meaning.  
"I believe you are my son," Burt finally exclaimed.  
Wesson was about to speak, but all of the wrist seismos went off. Burt held up his finger signaling to be quiet. Wesson stood there with no fear. The town folk had already updated him on the need to know information about this place, even though he already knew about this place. They concluded that he was just like Burt in some ways if not all. Nancy even saw parts of Heather into him.  
El Blanco passed through the town as usual, as soon as he was out of range, Burt put his finger down.  
"I believe you're going to have to tell me more about this place," Wesson looked around. "It's very interesting."  
"Of course," Burt walked into his jeep. "Hop in. It will be easier for you to tell me while I make my rounds."  
The two drove off. Tyler chuckled a bit. "Off into the sunset they go."  
Wesson told everything about himself. How he grew up, his college degree, how he was a young prodigy thanks to Heather and knowing that Burt was his father. He also eluded about his military skills. He was supposed to go onto his next mission, but he delayed it for a while. He even told about his experiences with firearms. Burt argued that Wesson had gotten himself entangled with the government and it was not a wise decision. After he was finished, but gave all the information he could give about Perfection and graboids. He still kept things hidden in case there was another motive behind this. His son was in the military which meant he was controlled by the government.  
After the drive, it was night time and Burt drove back to Perfection. As they stopped Wesson asked if he could stay with Burt. He did agree but his accommodations weren't as great as Nancy's. Wesson didn't care, he was going to stay with his dad and that was enough.**  
**Wesson woke up early in the morning. He checked his computer for any updates on his latest mission. There wasn't any. This hurt him a bit. He didn't like the mission he was on. It was one thing to be sent on a mission he wasn't too fond of, it was another to send him on one where his dad is involved and innocent lives.  
He reread over his mission again. Wesson was sent to Perfection to retrieve any information he could about the town's people knowledge of the Proudfoot labs. To make sure a certain scientist, who was sent into the labs, to not come into town. If she did, she would captured and hauled back to HQ for further processing. This was a top secret classified mission. If she didn't cooperate, he was allowed to terminate her. Wesson shook his head on that part. The only information that they gave about the scientist was that it was a she. He pictured her to be an older woman. They didn't tell him when the scientist arrived into the labs, he just knew that he was to be in Perfection before the week was out.  
So here he was, stuck in the middle of nowhere, only wanting to get to know his dad more and see what this valley is all about. He even chuckled to himself, thinking that the scientist might have gotten eaten by El Blanco while searching the lab. If that happened he wouldn't mind staying here in Perfection for a few more months. He looked onto his GPS system for the scientist. Her last quadrants showed that she was still parked thirty minutes out of the entrance. He wasn't allowed to go check up on her in person, but he was half tempted to.  
Rose had gotten back to her camp in time to see that it was still the same way she left it. She had captured one of the creatures and locked it in a cage. While performing a basic physical it came out of sedation and started to attack her. She had done this at night, a mistake on her part. This made her launch for the door and started to run as it attacked her more. El Blanco was in the area and she kept going. Running and jumping from rock to rock, trying to get to safety.  
She went into her white hummer, pulling out two white glocks, and headed for the semitrailer that housed her facility. She searched the facility and her creature was gone. She got in and locked the door.  
The first thing she did was look through the government files that had been uploaded to her computer already. She didn't like seeing the boundaries that they had put her on. She knew that there was going to be a guard in Perfection to make sure she stayed within in her guidelines. She shook her head.  
_What makes them so sure that I will always stay within them? _She thought to herself. _I wonder if they knew I just met some of the townspeople._  
She quickly uploaded her information to the government. It showed her linking into the same exact spot she was before in. She also checked her seismo's and the graboid radar. El Blanco was nowhere in sight.  
Wesson saw the tag blinking that she was online and in the same spot. He had it uploaded to his phone to keep track of her. _So, she hasn't moved. Good. This will make my job easier. Let's hope it stays that way. _He thought to himself.  
Burt brought him down to the store to get his mail. Jody made them breakfast.  
"Wesson, Burt" Jodi placed the meals in front of them. "Breakfast is served. You better eat now, before it gets cold."  
"Thank you" He put his phone down after checking the scientist's status. "Let's hope something interesting happens today."  
"In this town, you may get your wish," Jodi warned him. Wesson chuckled as he looked to Burt who was multitasking.  
"Well, hearing stories about it from my mom, I feel as if I need to see it to believe it," he helped put away the dishes and washed them with her. He wore a dark green tshirt over khaki cargos with tan combat boots. The two talked on more, until it was time Burt was finally done.  
Twitchell arrived just in time as they turned around and started to walk out. Twitchell walked over to Wes. He sized him and approved for a bit. "So you're the one that they sent. Aren't you a little young for this job?"  
The others looked quizzical at him. Wes looked over to Burt and sighed. The inevitable came too soon.  
"You know how I said I had a mission that I put off?" Burt nodded and so did everyone else. "Well, this is the mission."  
Wes kept staring straight into his dad's brown eyes. "I wanted to meet you since the time I knew you were my father. My mission sent me here to Perfection. I am to retrieve information about what you know about the Proudfoot labs and to keep the scientist in line." He wanted to say the next part of his mission, but knew he couldn't. "My apologies father and residents."  
Burt was the first to answer. "Its alright. The government always break into personal lives without warning and makes you do things you don't want to do. I knew there was something else that brought you here besides me." Rosilta and Tyler came walking in with Larry hot on their tails chatting off their ears. They stopped to see the situation.  
There was an awkward silence among the rest of the residents. They didn't know really what to think. It was a lot to take in: the mission and this personal information about his son. Burt always knew that there was something else up with his son; he also had a feeling that there was something more than just retrieving information from the residents. He had a feeling that is about the young woman in connection with the Proudfoot labs.  
"Well, some do know how you feel," Twitchell responded. The residents looked at him with confusement. "Let's get this over with so that you can spend more time with your dad." He looked at Burt and laughed a bit. "Sorry." He looked serious again. He led Wes inside to talk more to him. Jodi and Nancy followed inside. Tyler went to Burt.  
"So, I know he's your son and all and you just met him, but" Tyler whispered. "I feel as if he's not telling us something."  
"My thoughts exactly," Burt put on his sunglasses.  
While this was happening, Rose had made her way back into the labs. It was easy for her this time around. The place was like she first saw it: covered in dust, markings in the dust showing tracks of different creatures, and weird moss looking plants growing in certain places. She went over to the main information desk to retrieve back up information of who all were employees and their times of work. She even found data on personal information that was stored in secret files. It interested her, but she knew that if she wanted to get done early and out safely, all of this curiosity had to wait.  
The time trailed on while she was at the desk. She looked at the time and thankfully the data was all downloaded before the time ran out. After taking away the USB, she heard some scuttle behind a few doors. She quickly put it in her pocket, jumped over the desk and quickly made it out of there in less than fifteen minutes.  
She arrived at the semitrailer and uploaded the information on her computer. While it uploaded, she had information on all of the radio channels the town communicated on. She thought about communicating with Burt. She had read the file on him and everyone in town. He had connections to one of the scientists who worked there. However, the guard to keep her check was in town and from the information she was given, he was related to Burt in a way. Odds did not look good.  
"Burt, come in Burt, over" Rose tried it anyway.  
She had caught him at a perfect time.  
"Burt here, over," he was curious to who it was.  
"Switch to another channel over," Rose waited.  
Burt switched to a random channel. "Burt here, over." He went to a secluded room away from everyone.  
Rose had all channels open to figure out which one has speaking from. "Rose here. I thank you for your cooperation, over."  
"Your campsite is nowhere in sight, there are government officials here, over," Burt wanted to give her a heads up.  
"I know," Rose smiled. "Is there a possibility you can direct me to a Cletus Poffernberger, over?"  
"Perhaps, it depends on what you have to offer in return, over." Burt was now curious.  
"What is it that you are wanting, over," Rose knew this game too well, but she wanted to know everything about the Proudfoot labs and if it pertained to it, she might just leak some information out. She didn't really know the man all too well, but Burt did save her from dehydration. The man was generous, although he didn't know it, but he also has trust issues with the government.  
"Who you are really and why exactly are you here, over," Burt was straight forward.  
"I am camping for a cause you could say," Rose replied. "It's just myself and some equipment. Over."  
"That wasn't the answer I wanted, over," Burt wasn't too happy with her sassy remark.  
Rose acknowledged that Burt was a worthy adversary if not, a would be friend. "No, but it's still an answer that you have received. Now, my source to where Cletus may be at. Over."  
Burt shook his head. She was right, it was answer, a cryptic one, but it did give him what he wanted. He gave her the information of where Cletus was currently living it. She thanked him and disconnected lines on that channel.  
Burt did give Cletus a heads up. He explained to Cletus that there was someone wanting to meet him. He kept on explaining that this person may have a connection to the labs. This made Cletus anxious, he wanted to meet this person as well.  
Rose secured herself a line to Cletus. He answered the hotel phone once it rang. "Cletus Poffenberger," he spoke.  
"This line is secure," she spoke. "I am calling about the information about your experience and work in the lab."  
"Rose," Cletus cleared his throat. "Burt warned me you would call."'  
"Not surprising," Rose continued on. "I would like to know everything from the first day you heard about the Proudfoot labs until the very end." She had a recorder with her to make sure she didn't miss anything.  
Cletus went into a story about how he first heard about the Proudfoot Corporation through colleages at his previous job. It was more on gossip and less on factual information. One day, he got a call from Proudfoot himself to come work for him. Proudfoot only said certain specifics about how they could change the very face of the world with some of the projects they were wanting to work on. Most of these were animals made for combat. Cletus was at first resilient to the job offer, but then Proudfoot also hinted that the job was clearly experimental with adequate pay. Cletus confessed that he wanted more money, but also at the chance of making his own creations without the fear of laws stepping in. He had a curiosity of playing GOD at times.  
He signed on and headed out to Bixby with the rest of scientists that had been recently accepted the job. Most of the scientists he had heard of, there were a few that he didn't know, there were some that he knew personally. It was all too fast, he explained. He felt like a kid heading to Disneyland for the first time. He didn't know what to expect but the excitement of getting to go on new adventures intrigued him.  
Coming into Perfection, it was a small deserted little town with few inhabitants. Him and the other scientists were told not to visit the town under any circumstances. They were told that also that there was accommodations to the lab they were going to, so they wouldn't need a reason to leave at all. If they did, it was to get fresh air or to leave every few days to clear the mind. Proudfoot wanted the scientists to be in tip top shape when working on the projects. The lab was split into four sections: microbiology, mammalian, botany, and a secret section that only certified members were allowed to enter. Cletus worked in the mammalian section in conjunction with the microbiology department.  
He told about the creations he saw being developed and what they were going to be used for. He even discussed about his project, 4-12, and how his pal had escaped into Perfection and the death of him. Rose wanted to give comfort to the scientist but knew it would do no good. She had lost creations before and it was something that can't be replaced by a simple hug or pat on the back. Cletus kept explaining about the other departments except for the secret one. He didn't know much about it, except that the scientists that he didn't know worked in the lab. Cletus even heard some of the other scientists saying that they didn't know them either. Cletus was to the point where he was about to be promoted to the secret department, until the government finally stepped in and that was when all projects had to be cooked, meaning had to be terminated. Cletus told about how he watched some scientists tried to keep their creation alive, but soldiers that were appointed there came in to escort scientists in who didn't mind cooking other's experiments. He saw many of his new colleagues cry and get into fights over it.  
The Proudfoot Corporation said that they had made a mistake for making this and that it will not surface again. Cletus went on about how he got his project out of there and how he had heard that some scientists had not fully cooked their experiments, hence Mixmaster still being alive and some other creatures that were killed in Perfection. Rose had already been updated on those creatures. She even was reminded by some of the names. She wanted to tell him that there was more than just one, but decided not to. That was to be with her and the government.  
Cletus went on, about how the doors were air locked to each section so that nothing could escape even if it could, but due to time and the growth rate of some of the experiments it wouldn't be a surprise that they broke out. He wasn't even surprised that they had sent someone back to the lab to check up on it. He in fact was waiting for it to happen. He wanted back in, to make a new and improved 4-12, one that didn't have so much hostility and had an easier way of calming him down. He told this to Rose, but she didn't say a word back yet. She was waiting for his questions.  
"Is that all of the information you wanted?" Cletus paused.  
"Yes, I thank you for your cooperation," Rose hung up and spliced her information together from her different sources.  
Wes had received all the information that he could out of his dad. He was the hardest to obtain information. He found out that his dad didn't like giving information too easily to the government and he didn't blame him one bit. He had just finished his interview with his dad when a guy had asked Burt to meet with him. Perfection started to seem like a very secretive place. He knew he was informed of this, but now it had become even stranger.  
Wes uploaded all the information and sent it off. He then decided to take drive off to his dad's place. Wes had to wait for El Blanco to pass the area of where he wanted to drive. After he was long gone, Wes drove up and waited in his truck for another hour until his father finally came alone to the place. Burt opened the gate and both entered. They walked towards the opening of his place when they heard a far off scream of some sort. Burt froze and looked back to where it came from along with Wes. Burt was a bit afraid, thinking it was Rose, since he had no idea where she was camped at.  
He grabbed his walkie talkie, but didn't do anything, remembering that his son was there. Burt then hurried down the stairs, punched the pass code in and entered the room like a bolt of lightning. His son was hot on his heels. Burt looked at the radar of where El Blanco was. He was nowhere in that region where the scream came from. Burt then looked to where Rose was dropped off at, scanning all possible locations. There was nothing there. He then immediately jumped back.


	2. Chapter 2

"Should we go check it out?" His son looked to the computer screen. "A yell like that has to be someone."  
Burt thought about it. "Yes. Let's go see."  
The two ran upstairs and headed towards the vehicles.  
Rose clicked her radio once again. All she heard was static. She then heard scrapping of needles against the lab. Rose jolted up, grabbed her gun and a net. Stepping down from the lab, she searched for the thing that caused the noise. There was some pitter patter of paws coming around. She crouched down to see what was under the trailer. It was one of the escaped creatures. Rose put her gun in her back and unfurled the net. She hurled the net onto the animal. The animal scuttled around in small area. She twisted the animal up into the net and hauled it back in before El Blanco heard them.  
As she placed the animal into a confine, Rose pricked herself upon one of the needles. It screeched a yell like a peacock's once it saw the others.  
Rose looked at her finger, blood was dripping down. "Damn, not again," she started to slur her words. Rose turned out of the glass encasement. She stumbled towards the bedroom. Rose fell upon the floor before even reaching the bed. She saw different colors and her temperature started to rise. This time she made sure she would stay in the lab and not go wondering about through the desert.  
Burt and Wes drove out to different coordinates. All what they could find was desert and animal tracks. They drove around for a few more minutes before they drove back in to town. Wes looked at his GPS to see that the doctor was still in her area. He sighed a relief. If she died on his watch, he would not only lose his job, but he could get kicked out of the military, and live the rest of his life in jail. This was some serious business. New technology could be developed from the scientist's findings.  
Rose woke up to the rumble of her trailer as El Blanco passed underneath. She blinked away the grogginess and looked around trying to focus. Rose stretched and lifted herself up. She let out a groan as she stumbled to stand. "What time is it?" She thought out loud. The clock was too bright for her. Thank goodness she had tinted windows and thick blinds. It stayed cool and dark in the desert. It was morning still. A sigh a relief escaped from her lips as she checked on the creatures. She fed and watered them to the best of her ability before taking off to the shower. Rose wanted to stay under the cold water but, she had limited resources.  
El Blanco felt the vibrations coming from certain areas. Some were too small to worry about and others were enough for snack. It was a repeated rhythm of vibrations. A source that was digging or tunneling. He moved faster to the source before it could get away and opened its beak up to swallow small critters and one medium sized animal. He sunk back into the ground and headed off to feel more of the vibrations.  
One vibration in particular had him coming back to the same place. It was over by the vibrations he could not reach due to some sort of barrier blocking him to rise and snag his prey. It was a few miles away from that place. Except this vibration was strong enough to go through the same barrier that was familiar to him. A barrier, he could feel through but could not enter due to its strength. The area would vibrate in certain tones and rhythms. Almost calling to him, communicating like the rest of his kind. It was not of his kind though, but something close to it. He tried clicking back in rhythms and tones but whatever it was never communicated back.  
After Rose finished her routine, she checked the computer for any readings from the lab. There were a few. She had placed seismographs around the perimeter to track any movement in or out of the facility. There were some movements. She scrolled through the data and looked at the one that was just made. She tracked El Blanco's movement to see if it was him, except it wasn't. He was there but, the cement foundation had him blocked. It was also reinforced with steel and who else knows what. Rose pin pointed where it was coming from and how deep it was. She turned to the layout of the facility. It was coming from the secret labs on the bottom floor deep into the earth.  
Rose flipped through the directory of all the scientists who had been doing research around Perfection. She emailed the one person who may be able to help her figure out what kind of hybrid of animal or machine could be making those vibrations. Rose then decided to email headquarters for supplies, such as sonar equipment, and that she needed it quickly as they could get it to her.  
Wes's phone buzzed two times before he answered. His voice was a bit groggy. The other line was not too happy. "Yes, sir. No, sir. Right away, sir. I understand, _sir!"_ He shut his phone off and rubbed his eyes.  
Burt looked over to him while reading his mail. "New mission?"  
"Yeah," he sat up and stretched. "The _scientist_ needs supplies immediately. Her work cannot be compromised due to lack of equipment or lack of protection. She has stumbled onto something important and can be hazardous if she does not find out what it is at this moment."  
Burt looked to him with intrigue. "What did she find?"  
"I don't know," Wes put on his gear. "Except that a package will be delivered in Bixby in a few hours and I must go retrieve it. Set in the drop location and head back into town to await more orders."  
"Ohh," Burt looked back to his mail. "I wonder what was found."  
He started to leave. "I'll bring back breakfast." Wes winked and headed out. He was headed through town when Larry come running out stopping him. "Morning Larry. What can I help you with?"  
"Are you going into Bixby?" Larry asked as he headed up to the window.  
"Yes, I am," Wes replied putting his truck in park. "Need a lift?"  
"Yes, also if you could drive my trailer here," Larry scratched his head.  
"Hop on in," Wes smiled. "Why not? It would be nice to have some company."  
The two drove out while, a small red truck drove in. A lady in her forties parked in front of Chang's Market. She had reddish brown hair pulled back in a ponytail with a hat. She wore glasses, white button up collared shirt with a khaki pocketed vest. She had hiking boots and khaki pants with many pockets. She got out of the truck and headed into the market fast paced.  
Nancy came out of a room with shock. "Oh, Dr. Donna Debevic, what are you doing here?"  
"I'm looking for the scientist," Donna replied. "She contacted me to work with her. There is also a soldier who is supposed to be guarding her. He knows where she located at."  
"_Her?_" Nancy walked up to her. "The scientist is a she? I don't know where she is. And Wes just left with Larry to Bixby. If you wait, they will come back."  
Donna sat down on the bar stool. "That must have been them in the fancy truck passing by. I guess I will wait. I can also see if I can get into contact with her again."  
There was a commotion outside. The two looked towards outside. Burt rolled into town just as a few tourists popped in as well. He looked over to the tourists and grunted. A few of them were already out of their cars and headed inside taking pictures of the building, themselves, and anything else. Burt checked his seismo before he decided to venture in behind them. Tyler drove up next to Burt and the tourists.  
"Morning Burt," Tyler shut off his engine.  
"Good morning," Burt looked at the coordinates to where the girl said her camp was at. "I see you already have your morning full."  
"Yeah, whole day full of safaris," Tyler smiled as he got out of the truck. "Maybe you can join one of our tours it would be nice, and give the customers a better insight on Graboids."  
"Nope, I have a full schedule," Burt looked to him. "I am going to go check on that girl that I dropped off. If she is still around or alive. I am going to get some provisions then head out. Radio me, once my son gets back in. I still don't trust him."  
"Can do Burt," Tyler was looking around. "Hey, I know that truck. That's Dr. Donna Debevic." He looked back to Burt. "Hey you should meet someone, I think you and her might get along real well."  
Burt inclined and eyebrow to him. Tyler gave him a pointed look. "Oh all right." Burt got out of his truck and headed into the market with Tyler. The two headed straight towards Donna who was still sitting on the bar stool.  
"Long time no see, Dr Debevic," Tyler smiled to Donna.  
"Yes it has, please call me Donna," she stood up.  
"Donna, I would like you to meet Mr. Burt Gummer," Tyler introduced them. "Burt, this is Dr. Donna Debevic. The one I told you about."  
"I have heard about you," Burt shook her hand as he sized her up.  
"So have I and it seems they weren't lying," she shook his hand and did the same.  
There was an awkward silence.  
"It was nice meeting, but I have to be on my way," Burt nodded his head towards her. "Jody, I need some things from you." Burt headed towards the coolers.  
"He is exactly the same," Donna watched him leave.  
"What brings you back to these parts?" Tyler asked.  
"The scientist stationed here asked for my help," she replied.  
"Ohh, Doctor Casey Mathews," Tyler responded.  
"No, not her," Donnna watched the tourists being accompanied by Jody to the outside to Tyler's jeep.  
Tyler looked at her skeptical and before he could answer, Jody called for him. Tyler nodded to her as he turned around and left to give some tours.  
Donna had her laptop with her and decided to email the scientist.  
Rose was carefully studying the creatures. She put on her lab coat and some rubber armor to protect her as she took swabs of samples off of the creatures. She tagged, gendered, and performed a routine animal health check on them. Everything was logged and accounted for in two separate areas. One was on computer, the other was written in a log book. A chirp from her computer signaled that she had received an email. Rose swirled over to her computer. It was from Donna. Rose emailed back with coordinates and a time to meet her. She then continued with her work.  
Donna read the email, closed down her computer and headed out. She was to arrive in a discrete location in a few hours after Wes returned into town. She decided to meet this Casey Mathews.  
"Burt, Tyler here, over," Tyler spoke through the radio once he got a chance.  
"Burt here, over," Burt was up at the location he dropped off the girl at. He took out his binoculars and started to search for any life.  
"I found out what Donna was doing here, over," Tyler was waiting for his next group of tourists to come in. "She is meeting the scientist, over."  
Burt was struck by that. "Did she say why, over?"  
"Didn't get the chance to ask, but Donna focuses on sounds animals make, could be here for that, over," Tyler looked around to see if anyone was listening to his conversation.  
Burt thought it over. "Has she left yet, over?"  
Tyler looked around and did not see Donna's truck. "Her truck's not here, over."  
"I am going to look around the valley to see if she parked herself somewhere, over and out," Burt turned on his vehicle and headed out.  
Wes and Larry came back into town with a camp trailer. Wes parked it by Tyler's place. There were ten inch steel plates placed down for the camper to be placed upon. Wes unhooked the trailer and parked in front of the market. Donna had made her way back into town after discussing findings and research with Casey.  
Larry was too preoccupied with his camper that he did not notice anyone else. Wes looked at his phone waiting for an email to drop off the items. Donna went up to him. She knew exactly who he was and what he had. Rose informed her quite a bit.  
"You sure do look like your father," Donna smiled. "I believe you have the packages waiting for a certain scientist. She sent me here to retrieve them and to meet her."  
Wes did not like this. "I only take orders from the military ma'am."  
"She did say, something like this would happen, but I must assure you," Donna smiled. "I am to retrieve whatever you have and give it to her."  
"I can't allow that to happen," Wes stood his ground. "I also can't allow you to meet with her."  
"She specifically emailed me to meet her," Donna didn't back down. "Besides, it will be easier for you if you give me what she needs and I can give it to her. Do you even know who she is?"  
"No," Wes was not going to let her through. "No one is allowed to see who she is or get to know her. She is strictly here for science." He pulled out his phone and started to email the scientist. "Let's see how badly she needs you."  
Rose heard the chirp again as she working through lab work.  
"Grrr," she rolled herself over there with her chair. "What now?" She read the email with her arms in the air, making sure her gloves did not touch. "Really, now of all times. I have work to get through and not grovel over absurd situations." She used her elbow to click on calling the phone. She was too lazy to use new gloves and was not it the mood for emailing back.  
Wes was surprised at his phone ringing. The scientist was actually calling him. He quickly answered. "Ma'am?"  
"I do not have time to grovel because you won't allow her to my facility," Rose spoke as she was working again. "There is no safety issue here. I need her opinion on some of my findings. She is an acclaimed scientist in her field and I need her! Do you understand?"  
Wes sighed. The other thing he didn't like about this mission, if she gave him an order, he had to follow through. He knew exactly where she was going with this. "Yes, ma'am."  
Rose smiled. "Good to hear. Now transfer the equipment to her and let her be on her way. That is an order."  
"Yes, ma'am," he sighed again. Donna knew by his look that she had won.  
"One more thing," Rose rolled back over to the computer.  
_What now?_ Wes was already tired of this conversation.  
"Please refer to me as miss, not ma'am, I am not that old," Rose sighed.  
"Anything else, _miss?_" Wes asked.  
"That's all for now," Rose clicked off the phone. She rolled herself over to the workstation and kept on going.  
"Told you," Donna watched him put away the phone. "She was a way about her. She can get what she wants. If you actually met, you would understand, but it seems you haven't."  
"Wait, you've met her?" Wes narrowed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

"A time or two," Donna shrugged her shoulders.  
"I'll transfer the equipment over to you," Wes went over to his truck and started to bring out the packages. He thought about the voice of the scientist. It sounded as if she was young. Quite younger than he expected. The curiosity of knowing who she was, kept getting stronger each time he thought about it. Wes decided to write a note for the scientist just to see if he could get a reaction out of her. "Here is the last of it." He placed it into the back of her truck.  
"Thank you," Donna was about to get into her vehicle. "Don't worry, you might see more of me around." She got in and drove off.  
"I hope not," Wes muttered to himself.  
Larry came over to see what the commotion was about. "What was that all about?" He watched Donna drive off.  
"An order that was given that is going to go straight to headquarters," Wes smirked.  
"Oh, I thought it was Donna driving off with some equipment for the scientist," Larry didn't understand. "Hey, you may think I'm weird and different, well everyone else thinks that too, but can you give me a second opinion on this. I've tried everyone else but they don't think it's real and that I am just making something up to get more attention. Like I would do that. There's too much stuff here to make up. You know what I mean?"  
Wes glanced to him before looking back to the truck. "What exactly is the opinion on?"  
"Oh good, you will do it!" Larry smiled. "Come this way, I recorded it and have been trying to bait it out of the barn, if it's still in the barn." He walked over to his camper. He jumped in quickly to find his camera. Larry came back out and started to play the tape. "See, there is something there."  
"I don't see anything," Wes was scrutinizing the camera.  
"Well, of course you don't, its invisible," Larry explained. Wes gave him a look that kept Larry going. "It's a bat though, I named it the _invisibat_. So far I got it eating off of a fishing pole."  
"An_ invisibat_?" Wes thought about it. _Must be from the lab._ "Larry try to capture it, if you can. We might be able to speak with the scientist and see what she thinks of it."  
"So you believe me?" Larry held his breath. He watched Wes nod his head. "Good, I will start right away sir!" Larry got back into his camper and started to mutter to himself about fishing poles, and what foods a bat might like.  
Wes decided to head into the market place to relax.  
Donna met Rose at the specific location. She was at the campsite. Rose came out of the trailer with a backpack.  
"Nice to see you again," Rose greeted as Donna started to get out of her truck. "Thank you for coming on short notice."  
"Same here," Donna hugged Rose. "It's always nice to see an old grad student even after she got her PhD. What do you have here that is needs my opinion?"  
Rose pulled out a tablet and clicked play to show Donna. After hearing it once, Donna looked to her for more information. "The albino graboid has been communicating with it. I don't know for how long, the equipment was put in place as soon as I could get out there. Seimsos have been showing that the graboid does frequent this spot from time to time. Educated guess, it may what calls him. However, I do not know if its machine or living. This is why I wanted you. I also need opinions on animal noises. Some I have jotted down, but these creatures are mostly likely mixed and crossed so the calls they make are similar."  
"You have gotten graboid clicks?" Donna raised her eyebrows in surprise and a bit with glee.  
"Yes," Rose was a bit hesitant. "Although I know that's fascinating, unfortunately I am not here for the graboid. I am here for the unknown."  
"Okay Scully," Donna replayed the record. "Are we available to get closer to this place?"  
"Yes," Rose checked her watch and seismo. "We have enough time to get there and back safely and the graboid is not in the area. We will use my vehicle." Rose handed her the tablet and started to transfer all of the equipment over. The two got in and headed out. Donna plugged in head phones and kept listening to the record while writing down notes. Rose stopped just outside the entrance that had been covered by the earth. She had always gone down through the roof.  
The two put together equipment and backpacks. They headed out to the location. Donna stopped where Rose had made metal grate to enter and exit the building.  
"Don't you want to enter?" Donna watched Rose keep walking.  
"I am still in the lobby of this place, haven't even touched the other rooms," Rose paused. "I still don't know what's down there and what is living."  
"This is going to take you quite a long time," Donna walked to reach her.  
"Yes," Rose sighed. "I may even get another three doctorates for this." She smirked.  
"Yes, and if you allow Mulder to help out, you might get done earlier," Donna winked at him.  
Rose rolled her eyes and kept walking on. She stopped once they reached the destination. "Okay we are above the place where the sound is coming from. I am going to start placing my equipment in, if you want to start your procedure, you can."  
The two began their work. At times they took breaks to keep hydrated and suppress their appetite. Rose was placing her sound equipment in the ground. In another spot she put another seismic gadget. Donna was listening with sonar like equipment to try to hear what was going on underground. She was thinking it would have been better if they had gotten into the building and listen that way.  
After an hour of listening, Donna gave up and Rose was still setting up equipment. "How much are you going to do?" Donna watched her.  
"This is one of my hot spots," Rose placed another seismic gadget. "If I can get enough around, I can have it pinpointed to exact location, along with outside interference."  
"Do you think we will be able to bounce sounds off to try to get a reaction?" Donna looked at her watch.  
"Yes, and we will be able to do it safely in the trailer without having to attract the graboid," Rose put in place the last gadget. "And getting ourselves in a situation. The nearest rock is about, oh a quarter mile away and that one is not enough to fit two people."  
"Are you saying you were out here when something like that happened?" Donna watched her get up and brush herself off.  
"Yes, thanks to a mixmaster creature," Rose started to pack her backpack and found a note. She zipped up the bag and thought about reading it back in the trailer. "Ready?"  
The two headed out and reached the trailer before it turned completely dark. They got into the trailer. Rose started working on setting up the relay between the machines in order for them to communicate with them. Donna saw the glass lab and wanted to get a sneak peek inside to see the creature that was caught.  
"That would be ill advised, if you did that," Rose didn't look away from the screen.  
"What did you find?" Donna was in awe.  
"I have narrowed it down to a porcupine, some sort of poisonous creature like a tropical frog but it gives more of knockout and hallucinations, and peacock yet the sound can carry quite the distance. There is more than one that I caught. Lucky enough to get both sexes." Rose finally finished up on the last touches. "Okay, I am finished. What animal sound would you like to try first?"  
"Try orcas," Donna pulled up a stool and sat down next to her. "Or some sort of whale. They had quite the sonar. I had done cicadas but I am afraid of what it will attract."  
"Hmph, yes, I heard about that," Rose glanced over at her while typing away. "Not something we want." The two then put on headphones and listened in to the sounds. They didn't get any response. They tried different versions and animals trying to coax out whatever it was. They tried for a few more hours. Rose let Donna try while she made them dinner. Still nothing. The two quit late in the evening. Rose let Donna take her bed, while Rose slept on the floor.  
It was not the day for anyone to get anything. Larry could not lure his invisibat with hot dogs like he usually could. He didn't want to fail so he was going to try again. Wes was watching his phone for any update from the scientist.  
"Anything new with your esteemed colleague?" Burt asked as he drank from a water bottle. Wes had provided him with lots of groceries. He knew his dad was scratching for money but he didn't know it was that bad.  
"Not at all, although headquarters wasn't too pleased about her recent order," Wes clicked the screen off. "You have encountered some of these creatures. What were they like?"  
"Horrible," Burt thought about it. "4-12 was out of control, that plant thing was a mess, and the micro-bacteria whatever thing was a nuisance. Trying to get adequate information on them each time was like taking two steps back. You had to cross certain red tape or wait long enough just to find out. And when you do it's too late. If this scientist can provide enough information about what is going in there, I hope she asks me to blow the damned thing up."  
"It keeps the town interesting," Wes smirked.  
Burt gave him a knowing look. "Yes it also keeps unwanted buyers out like that damned Melvin."  
"Maybe we can have the scientist talk to him," Wes teased. "She seems great with getting people to do what she wants."  
Burt shook his head. "I don't want Melvin anywhere near her or the site. If he gets there, he will just ruin everything. Him and his damned track housing or that stupid golf course of his or whatever scheme he is trying to do now."  
As the night prevailed on, something did get called out of the lab, unfortunately it wasn't what they wanted. It didn't even come out of the lab area, it came out of one the mines. The vented shaft where the micro-bacteria came out of this. This was an octopus like creature crossed with a spider. This thing crawled up into the trees and started to snatch prey, grabbing it up with its tentacles and cocoons them. Soon this creature had several pods. It nested in a clump of trees outside the mine for now.  
The morning called out tourists and Donna. Rose and Donna had breakfast and exchanged information. Rose was going to send anything she found to her. Wes was watching the tourists speak with Tyler and head into the market. Donna parked next Wes's truck. She came out to see the commotion.  
"Find anything?" Wes asked her. He didn't even glance over.  
"Nothing yet," Donna sighed. "That's just how nature goes. Where's Burt?"  
"On his morning routine," Wes watched a few backpackers come out from getting supplies. The three waited until the whole group came out. Wes watched them get accounted for, get group picture, and headed into their vans.  
"On patrol, I see," Donna watched with him.  
"Just surveying," Wes looked over to her finally.

"Well, Romeo, keep an eye on Juliet will you," Donna gave him a small smile. "She's in way over her head on this project and needs all the help she can get. I am going to head on out. Nice meeting you." He nodded to her while she headed on out.  
The hikers headed out near the mines. It was a nice area to hike. No graboid could reach this area due to rocks. The octopus creature was sleeping above them in the tree branches. It woke up due to the chattering of the hikers. It snapped its beak a couple of times before slithering from branch to branch.  
Rose checked on her creatures. They nibbled and squawked at one another after getting food. She checked the seismographs and sound systems, still nothing. She was fishing with bait but her _fish_ weren't biting. Rose decided to further investigate the lobby. She created another backpack filled with items to help her. Rose braided her hair back. She put on tinted goggles then placed an off white desert tactile headscarf. She put on a white jacket over her tank top and pants with combat boots. Rose donned her harness that was a light grey in color. She headed out while checking her seismo. Rose grabbed a couple of collapsible cages and headed out.  
The creature watched the hikers with anticipation. It was a bigger prey then it was used to getting.  
"This place is so nice!" One hiker spun around looking then back to another hiker. "Who knew something like this would exist?"  
"Yeah, but no reception," another hiker was looking down at their phone.  
"We are supposed to be on vacation not trying to work," the first hiker scolded and kept walking on.  
The second hiker looked up and back down to the phone. "I'll, I'll catch up with you later. I am just going to try to send a quick email."  
This is when the creature decided to take its cue. One tentacle dropped down, wrapped around the hiker, and lifted it up. The hiker's phone dropped as the victim tried to squirm out of the hold. There were some other belongings that dropped. The creature cocooned the victim and slithered away to get another. Hikers were being picked off one by one. Soon the group was down to half. They grouped up again counting one another.  
"Where is the rest of the group?" One of the lead hikers looked around for them. "This isn't good. Let's get back to the vans and regroup from there. A few of us will then go back and try to find them. Remember the buddy system. Do not lose them." The hikers hurried back. They spotted the debris from the other hikers. Some screamed and started to run. "Stay together! Don't panic! Stay together!"  
More hikers were snatched up. The group was now down to a quarter. They got into the vans and headed back into Perfection. Wes and Burt were talking to Tyler about the safari tour when they saw the vans come slamming into a halt over to them.  
"What is going on?" Tyler looked at them.  
One of the hikers came barreling out of the van and over to Burt. "You have to help! Our hikers they gone missing. Something took them. It must have been a graboid! What's left is just some of their stuff. That's how we know they were taken under. You have to help us!"  
"Where exactly where you hiking at?" Burt tried to get information.  
"Over there," the hiker pointed. "There was twenty five of us now there's only-"  
"Six," Wes looked over to them.  
"I just need a few to come with me to make sure we are in the right area, the rest of you can stay put here," Burt barked orders.  
Jodi had come out to hear the commotion. "What's going on?"  
"I need you and Nancy to get everyone up on the roof, tell Rosalita and the rest," Burt was serious. "Tell me if anything comes this way." Burt looked down at his seismo. He nodded to the rest and headed into his vehicle. Tyler and Wes jumped into the truck and followed one of the vans. Jodi gathered up the rest that were there hugging one another and got them to go upstairs.  
She grabbed her bag and two way radio. "Nancy, Jodi here, over." Jodi followed the rest up the stairs.  
"Nancy here, what's going on? Over," Nancy had stopped her pottery wheel.  
"Something has taken several of the hikers this morning," Jodi started to explain. "They think it's a graboid. Burt wants us on the roof. Over."  
Nancy got up, started to run out the door, grabbed her bag and checked her seismo. Nothing was around so she headed over to the market and climbed up the stairs.  
Jodi got in touch with the rest. Larry was in the old barn. Rosalita and Harlow were up on the roof. They watched their cattle with binoculars.  
Burt parked beside the van as it stopped. The two hikers were out and waiting for them. They followed the hikers where they last went. Tyler and Wes looked around. They picked up some of the debris left by the missing hikers and examined the area around it. The creature that lurked in the trees was occupied with its bountiful cocoons. Burt was checking his wrist seismo for any signs. He didn't believe a graboid could get through here. It was mostly rock around circling them in, but something else had got them. Something else that was underground. Unless El Blanco learned how to jump over rock and into this area. No, it was something else. It wasn't the first time this mine had some sort of creature inhabiting it.  
"Get in contact with that scientist," Burt headed back to his vehicle and pulled out his laptop. He wanted to make sure it wasn't a graboid. "Maybe something came from the lab, she might know something." Wes nodded.  
Rose was putting files into her backpack. She had taken pictures of the lobby and set up gadgets such as seismos, wild game cameras, heat sensors, and her cages. As she was rummaging through the lobby, she got a call. "I have service, hmm, that's odd." Rose looked to see who was calling her. She sighed when it was the military guard. Rose answered and put it on speaker to finish her work. "I call you, not the other way around. What is it? I am busy at the moment."  
Wes was not surprised about the greeting he got. "Well, hello to you too."  
"I have other things then to be chatting about nonsense," Rose scanned the room for any sign of movement. "Now what is it that you need?"  
"We have a situation over here," Wes began to explain. "Something has taken some hikers, we are thinking its underground. Has anything been let out of lab?"  
"Well, the front doors are caved in with rock and sand, there are so far no other entry," Rose was thinking about it. "Except the one I made. And if there are other ways, I do not know of them since there wasn't any on the blueprints."  
"Did you see anything get out from the entry you made?" Wes looked at the phone that was on the ground.  
"No," Rose zipped up the bag. "Nothing has gotten past me so far."  
"Wait, are you in the lab right now?" Wes whispered.  
"I'm in the lobby," Rose put on the bag and grabbed the phone. "I haven't made it down to there. Why am I telling you this? Is there anything else you need?"  
"Can you check to see if anything did escape, nineteen hikers are missing?" Wes was getting some pent up angst.  
"That's not my problem," Rose started to hook herself up to the rope cords. She had placed her phone in a slot on strap of her backpack.  
"It is too," Wes argued. "You are sent here to deal with lab and the creatures."  
"Yes I deal with the lab and the creatures, but I deal with the creatures in the lab, those that escape outside my zone are not my problem," Rose scanned around the room one more time to make sure everything was where she wanted it to be. "Creatures that get out are dealt by Doctor Casey Mathews and her lab. She deals with Mixmaster and the ecosystem of Perfection. I am ground zero if you remember the information that was sent to you. Now, if that is all, I would like to get back to work." She ended the call and started to pull herself up by the pulley system.  
Wes sighed as he put his phone away. He placed a marker of where this hiker might have been taken at and grabbed the belongings. Wes placed them into bag which had a number to the missing hiker. He headed back to Burt and the rest.  
"It's not a graboid," Burt sighed with relief. "So it's not El Blanco, but something else must have gotten to them." Burt look to Wes. Wes shook his head. "Didn't think she would be any help either."  
"If we need someone on this, she said a doctor Casey Mathews would be more of help," Wes crossed his arms.  
"She's helped us before," Tyler added in. "We can get these items to her to analyze and figure out what has been taking this poor hikers."  
"It was silent," one of the hikers spoke up. "We didn't hear any screams or sounds."

"It was quick too," the other hiker nodded. "Some of us would turn around, and poof they were gone. Can we leave now? I don't like being here."  
"Alright, we can head back and tell the rest what we have found out," Burt sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

Once they got back to town, Burt told them that they were alright for now. He explained that they found nothing so far. Tyler and Wes were going to send off some of the belongings to Casey and regroup back up with them. Burt wanted to know what all had happened since now there was no sign of any movement.

Doctor Casey Mathews was testing plants and water when the two showed up. She looked up to see Tyler and a young man whom she had not met yet.

"Doctor Casey Mathews, this is Burt's son Wes," Tyler did a brief introduction. "I would be friendlier but right now we have a situation. Nineteen hikers are missing. It's not a graboid. We think it might be Mixmaster. Can you help us?"

Casey was taken aback. "Sure." She was hesitant. "What do you have for me to help you? There is a new scientist in town too, maybe she can help."

"Tried that, she won't do it," Wes sighed. "She told me to go to you."

Casey inclined an eyebrow. "So you must be the military guy they put in place here. Okay. Did she now? Well that's something new." Tyler brought in the sack that had all the bags. He dumped it on the table. She stared wide eyed.

"Here is all of their stuff," Tyler looked in her the eyes. "Is Roger here to help you? We can stay. Burt is with the rest of the hikers gathering information."

"Yes, that would be helpful," Casey picked up a bag and looked at it. Roger came by with some supplies. Casey quickly got him updated. The three of them followed Casey's lead and direction.

Back in Chang's. Burt was trying to settle down the scared hikers.

"One by one, not all at once," he held up his hands to them. "Now, while you were hiking, where were you in the position?"

"Position?" One of the questioned. "Well, we, the leaders, were in the front. There were four leaders in total now only two. The rest were supposed to be in a buddy system following one of us leaders. We didn't notice that we were missing some of the members until after we did a short check. We decided to head back to the van since it was a short distance and regroup so the rest wouldn't go missing when we would look for them. That's when it happened again and now we are only down to six."

"We ran and screamed back to the van as we saw some their stuff just lying there," another hiker added. "It all happened so fast. You'd turn around and the person you thought would be there was gone."

"You ran and screamed back to the vans?" Burt crossed his arms. "And did you see anything?" All of the shook their heads. "None of you saw anything? Nothing?" Burt sighed and tried not to get angry. Jodi caught on and started to comfort the hikers. Nancy took Burt over to counter.

"Burt," Nancy looked him straight in the eye. "You can't be so hard on them. They just lost their friends."

"Nancy, we have nineteen missing. Nineteen!" Burt was exhausted. "It's not some damn magic show and poof they're all gone. I need more information or Twitchell is going to have us by our necks if we don't find them. Have you heard anything from Rosalita or Larry?"

"Rosalita says all of her cows are there, and Larry is still in the barn," Nancy answered him.

"I'm going back out there to check again," Burt started to head out. "Tell the two when they come back to meet me there. I need more information!"

Rose had gotten back to her trailer in time. She didn't look through the documents she just retrieved and instead got out the blueprints, new and old. She double checked to make sure there were no other entrances. Rose then looked at other entries such as ventilation systems. She counted a few of them in different locations. Rose grabbed her phone and hit redial.

The three at the lab looked over to Wes. He gave a soft smile before pulling his phone out. He was a bit surprised to find out who it was. "Miss?"

Rose smiled at that. "There are a few ventilation systems that connect to different parts of the area. Where was the exact location of this attack?"

"Just outside the old mine shaft right out of town," Wes informed.

"There is one that connects to there," Rose followed the ventilation back to the main facility. "It connects to different vents back at the lab. Mostly from the labs from mammalian and microbiology. Did you find anything that can clue you in the appropriate creature?"

"We are working on that as we speak, here at Doctor Casey Mathew's lab," he informed her. "We gathered up the belongings from the area in question and are now processing them."

"How did the ground look?" Rose questioned as she looked over seismos around that area. She quickly wrote a note down that she needs to put gadgets and systems at each of the vents. Rose grabbed a few of her pens to start writing. There was a bit hesitation. "How was it disturbed?"

"There was some," Wes started to explain.

"Some?" Rose sighed in disbelief. She started to mark the map.

"I have some pictures of the area, I will send it to you right now," Wes pulled away from his phone and started to send what he had.

Casey leaned over to Tyler. "Who is he talking to?"

"I think that would be the scientist who I believe has him by the balls right now," he watched him. "I didn't know he took pictures. That would have been nice information." Casey nodded her head in agreement.

Rose moved her phone away to look at them. She zoomed in and around the supposed areas. None of the areas were disturbed enough to be qualified as something underground. This was quite weird. "Call me when you have more information." Rose sounded as if she wasn't there. She was about to radio Burt but thought better of it.

Wes looked to the rest and shrugged. They continued on working. Casey took some swabs of a backpack that had some sort of goo upon it. Thirty minutes later, Casey was looking at it under a microscope. She had some other samples going through different machines.

"This looks familiar," Casey started to speak of what she saw. "This sort of goo is actually venomous saliva, likely found in cephalopods."

"Cephalopod?" Tyler scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Octopi, and it looks like there is some mucosal strains with it," she moved the slide around.

"Don't they need water?" Tyler asked another question.

"Yes, but since we are dealing with Mixmaster, who knows what else it is crossed with," she zoomed in on the slide. "I may need to look at the other slides to get more information, but you can still call her to see what she has found."

Rose was looking through the pictures and none of the ground was disturbed. She even thought about driving over there to see for herself and place her gadgets but it would have to wait. Rose looked through seismographs again. Nothing was disturbed enough to even be on radar. She heard the call on her phone. Rose clicked answer and put it on speaker phone. "What did you find?"

"Casey found traces of venomous saliva and mucus that would be from cephalopods on some of the belongings we found," Wes put her on speaker as well.

"Hmm," Rose was thinking. "That may be why everyone thought it was a creature pulling it down. The pictures show no signs of deep disruptive holes in the ground like one would see with moles and graboids. Seismographs do not show anything that could have made an impact that would suggest a creature like that. The ventilation system has some size restrictions so a cephalopod would be able to maneuver quite well no matter the size."

"So what are you saying then?" Wes asked as everyone was listening tentatively.

"Isn't it obvious? These hikers were taken upwards. They were in an area with trees, cephalopods such as octopi and squid like to be in a fortress type area," Rose explained. "And are quick learners. It probably learned how to escape watching others. Although if it's a true cephalopod it will need water or it will shrivel up."

Casey switched in a few more slides, she was looking for anything else that was strange.

"Aha!" Casey spoke up with excitement. Rose could hear her. "I think the other part of this creature is spider. I found silk mixed in with the mucus. At first I saw it, and didn't think anything of it, but this piece of silk is quite huge compared to a normal spider."

"Although I am on speaker," Rose was a bit annoyed. "Check to see how strong it is. If its Darwin Bark Spider silk, we will have a bit of trouble then."

"Darwin Bark Spider?" Roger looked to Casey.

"It is the strongest fiber on earth, six times stronger than high grade steel per weight," Casey explained. "If it is we would need the teeth of limpets just to cut it."

"Limpet?" Wes asked.

"Aquatic snail," Casey looked up and smiled. "It is not Darwin Bark spider silk."

"Good," Rose smiled. "Now good luck on retrieving those that are missing." She hung up the phone and started to rummage through the files that she had gotten.

"She has you by your short and curlies, if you know what I mean," Tyler muttered to Wes. "Besides you were holding out on us. Pictures? We could have guessed to that conclusion without her."

"She's one of my bosses," Wes gave him a pointed look. "What she says, goes. Besides that is the reason why I am here, is for her, so if it looks like I am doing everything she says and making sure she gets information first, then that means I am doing my job."

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem fair," Tyler kept his voice low. "She's somewhere hidden, probably safe, and here you are in Perfection cleaning up the mess from the labs."

"She actually has it rougher than me," Wes smirked. "I watch her and the town, she is cleaning up the mess in the labs. Depending on how far a creature goes, she has to clean it up. Not me."

"It doesn't seem like there is anything else with this creature, but I would say be on the lookout," Casey looked up from her microscope. "I would get this information to Burt right away and see if you can save them. I will try to create an antidote for this venom if any of them had gotten injured."

The two nodded and headed on out. Tyler started to radio Nancy and Jodi until Burt overheard and sent them his way. The two got out of the truck and headed to Burt who was looking at his seismo.

"What did you find?" Burt looked over to them.

"Casey found traces of some sort of venom that comes from an octopus," Tyler explained. "Mixed in with spider silk. The other scientist said that may be why everyone though it was underground. She didn't find any seismic movement but a ventilation coming out from the mine."

"Let's hope it's not like the first monster that came out from there," Burt stared wide eyed. "So where is thing hiding out."

"The scientist said in the trees, octopi like to make a fortress," Wes stared up into the trees. "They're quick learners too. This thing might have moved on."

Burt and Tyler started to look up in the trees. "Alright, split up. Try not to get nabbed, see if you can find any of them," Burt started to bark out orders. "Radio in when you do." The three split up and kept on looking upwards.

Tyler had almost tripped over some roots coming up from the ground. He caught himself before falling to the ground. This sound reached the creature. It woke up and clicked its beak a couple times. "Huh? What was that sound?" Tyler started to look around. He looked up to see where the noise was coming from. He saw something move. He grabbed his radio. "Tyler, here, I think I might have found the creature, or it might have found me, over." Tyler was scanning the area. He spotted something a white grey looking body wiggling back and forth. "I found one, over."

Wes and Burt started to head over to where Tyler was as fast as they could. The creature blended into the background and using branches to hide it.

"Can you see it? Over," Burt panted as he ran.

"No, not really, but I saw something move, over," Tyler was slowly walking around a clump of trees but not too far as to keep one of the hikers in sight. Wes reached Tyler first. Tyler pointed up into the trees. Wes tried to find the line of sight where Tyler was pointing at. Burt finally came and looked with him.

"Where's the hiker?" Burt asked.

"Over there," Tyler kept his voice hushed. "This thing has it cocooned in the tree. I bet there are more."

"Did you mark you spots where you found the belongings?" Wes asked them.

"No," Tyler was confused.

"Yes," Burt nodded. He looked over to Tyler. "Always mark any spot that was used in any scene, it could be used later on, especially now. Alright, we are going to need something to cut them down, catch them safely, while someone else keeps watch of where this thing might be and possibly shoot it down."

"Right," Tyler agreed. "Should we call in for back up?"

"Not yet," Burt thought about it. "But we can call someone to get us some supplies. We need a net of some sort, scissors or a machete, and something to kill the thing without hitting those still in the trees."

"I have everything," Wes looked over to Burt. Burt glanced over to him and looked back to Tyler before whipping his head back to Wes. "Yes. I have it all, even rock climbing gear." The two looked at him in wonderment. "I have it in case the scientist needs help or saving." He shrugged his shoulders.

The three headed to his truck and started to work on supplies. They setup the net in the middle of one area where the hikers were picked up.

"Okay, so who is going to be the brave one and climb up there and cut them down?" Tyler was looking up in the trees.

"I'll do it," Wes answered before anyone else could. Burt was about to protest. "Can either of you get up in the trees without having to take a break? And then once you're up there focus on cutting them down without having the fear of looking down." They shook their heads. "Didn't think so, besides, I was trained for these kind of situations." He started to put on his climbing gear and strapped on his machete.

Wes started to climb up one of the trees. He looked around for anything out of the ordinary. Once he was near the wiggling cocoon, he hammered one of the climbing pitons in. He fastened himself to it in case he fell. Wes slid his machete out while he scanned again. He cut some of the silk off still waiting for it. After he was done with the majority, he stabilized the wiggling human and moved it in a way so when he cut the last silk keeping it attached, it would fall into the net safely. Wes cut the last string and heard the cocoon gave a muffled scream. Tyler began cutting the cocoon away from the person as fast as he could. Wes unhooked himself from the piton and moved onto the next cocoon. Burt was watching with keen eyes trying to find where this creature was at.

Three more people were saved. Tyler was using pulling away the webbing away from the hikers' faces.

"Hey you're okay," Tyler saw them take a breath. "Shhh!" He told them. "I'm going to get you out." The hiker nodded. After he got the first one undone. The two were then getting the others out.

"Okay let's move the net to get the rest," Burt started to undo the empty net. He kept his eyes in the trees still searching. "Remember to be quiet." The group moved trying to be quiet while following Wes.

Rose sighed. She couldn't help but think about the situation they are in. It was not her job to clean up the mess outside of her boundaries, but it did escape the facility and this situation has become interesting to her. She looked at her watch to see that it was only a few more hours until sunset. Rose furnished her bag with goggles that pick up infrared, climbing equipment, a couple of jars, some meat that she put in the jars, and a few other things. She put her outfit back on and headed for her vehicle. Rose took off leaving a cloud of smoke trailing behind her.

Wes was getting more of the cocoons down, still not finding the creature. He trudged on. Ten of them were so far saved. Wes spotted the rest. He signaled down to Burt to where the rest were at. Burt nodded then whispered to the rest to hurry up and move. As they got moving, one of the hikers stepped on a dead branch. It cracked loud enough to hear it echo. The group stopped waiting for the creature. It had been watching them, learning what they were doing.

Rose sped through the town with the dust behind her. Jodi and Nancy looked to one another with confusion. They watched the white hummer drive off to the same place where Burt was at.

"Burt, Jodi here," she spoke while watching the hummer. "You're going to have company pretty soon. Over."

Jodi's voice boomed through the forest. Burt grabbed his walkie trying to muffle the voice. Tyler and Wes had left theirs in the truck. The others could see and feel the tension rising. The creature slithered around the trees to get behind them.

Rose slammed to a stop right behind their vehicles, put the goggles on her head, grabbed her bag and headed out. She had a harder time breathing due to the headscarf. Rose didn't want to her face to be seen. She moved with agility getting to them. Rose stopped when she saw a piton. She got out her climbing gear, suited up and started to climb the tree.

Wes looked around trying to see where the creature might be at before heading towards the rest of them. He didn't see anything and started to cut one down as fast as he could. The creature slithered towards him.

Rose was in the trees and saw Wes a couple hundred yards away. Something moved. She focused in on it, thinking it was a branch. It moved again, it wasn't a branch. Rose slipped the goggles over her eyes and clicked them on. She could see the creature. Rose moved them back up, maneuvered her bag to her front and started to rummage through it. She grabbed two of the jars and clinked them together.

The creature twitched and turned around. Rose kept the sounds going. She watched the creature's color change with the scenery.

"Magnificent," she whispered. Rose pulled out one of the jars and placed it between her knees. She placed the bag back on her. Rose clicked her phone to record the creature and the noises. She could hear the click of it's of beak.

Wes could hear it as well. He looked around to find a white figure in the trees. That's not- it couldn't be? He thought to himself. Wes turned back around and stepped up his pace. If that's her, we are both in trouble.

The creature slithered towards her. Rose felt her heart racing as she kept focus on it. Watch it. Remember it's been learning from them. It's highly intelligent. Rose decided to walk towards it. The size is tremendous, like a horse or a small car. She clinked her nails against the jar. The creature mimicked her sound. Rose was getting closer to the group.

Tyler was watching Wes when he spotted something moving towards him. He hit Burt and pointed to where he was looking at. The two spotted the white figure climbing towards him. The two also saw something move amongst the branches. It was the creature camouflaged into the surroundings.

"It's chasing whoever that person is," Wes whispered.

"I think I know who that is, and I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Burt whispered back. "Besides its not chasing her, she's leading it."

"She?" Tyler looked to Burt. "Is that the scientist?"

Burt nodded his head. The two watched as she got closer to Wes. They didn't let the others know, for it would cause chaos amongst them.

"You get the rest out of here quickly as you can without making a sound," Burt whispered. "Come back with heavy artillery and I'll send the rest your way." Tyler nodded and started motioning the others to follow him.

Wes had three more to go. He glanced around to see that the person in white was a couple branches away. Wes cut one down. Two more to go. He kept himself going as fast as he could. Rose walked around the cocoons to face Wes. The creature slithered to the side. She clinked her fingers in a pattern with hesitation and different notes. The creature didn't respond as soon as she liked. Rose got closer to the last cocoon. Wes had the second to the last one cut and headed over to the last cocoon.

"Hurry if you can," Rose spoke to him. Her heart was still beating with adrenaline.

"Why are you here?" He panted as he cut with long swipes.

"Curiosity," Rose breathed. "Be ready to duck when I say." She unscrewed the jar top and pulled out the meat, letting the smell drift towards the creature. She then put it back in, screwing the top on tight. The creature clicked its beak with a chirp. She sighed in relief. "It's curious. That means it's still distracted." Rose moved the jar to one and then the next. A tentacle was following it. She heard the last swipe of the machete and the last cocoon fell down unto the net. "Now!" She threw the bottle at the creature while ducked down. Rose jumped towards Wes as the creature caught it. She pushed him off the branch and the two fell into the net as well.

Rose rolled over watching the creature try to open up the jar. "It's just like a cephalopod. Look at the learning curve."

"Are you insane?!" Wes had gotten out of the net and started pulling her towards him.

"Do you think we can capture it alive?" Rose got herself out of the net. Burt had the three hikers undone and ready to run on his mark.

"I just saved nineteen people and you want this thing alive?" Wes was close to shaking her. "We have to make sure these nineteen people stay alive!"

Rose didn't hear him as she was undoing the net. He rolled his eyes and helped her. Tyler had come back just in time with some guns. He handed them to Burt. Tyler motioned the three to follow him.

"Would you two stop arguing and get going?" Burt came between them. "If we don't leave now, it's going to follow us."

"Of course it is," Rose looked up again. "We just took its food supply and left it with a jar that contained a slice of meat." She took off her pack and rummaged through it again and handed each of them another jar. "Here. It's a great distraction for now, but it will only give us a few seconds each time."

"It would be safer if you would just get back in your vehicle and get back in your boundary," Wes stared her down.

"Have you ever worked with a cephalopod before?" She asked him. "It would get into my vehicle and where would that leave us. Besides, it hasn't showed us all of its tricks yet. I want to see it spin webs."

Wes looked to Burt. "I'm just going to grab and go." Burt was confused until he saw Wes turned to her, pick the white figure up and placed over his shoulder. Wes picked up the net and turned to his dad. "Let's head out."

Rose was flustered by his doing. "Put be down! I can handle this myself, just leave them."

"Not a chance," he was jogging with Burt by his side. "You die, I got to jail for a very long time and I have no time for your nonsense right now."

"You are supposed to do what I say," Rose flipped her goggles down and tried looking for the creature. It was hard for her as she kept bouncing around. "And I say, put me on the ground and leave me here."

"Your command has been override by the danger that is infringing upon your safety," Wes was explaining to her. "As stated in the agreement, I make sure that your safety is number one."

"Military men," Rose muttered under her breath. "Always think they need the last word. Stop!" She slapped him on the back. "I lost it." Wes kept running. "You big lug, stop!" She kneed him in the gut and climbed out of his grasp tumbling to the ground. Rose got herself up and was searching in the trees. She took off the goggles and searched with the naked eye. Wes and Burt stopped and looked with her.

Burt sensed something by him. He looked up and saw a tentacle inching down to them. Burt pointed his gun upwards to it, firing at it without warning. Rose whipped around narrowing her eyes at Burt.

"What are you thinking?" She snarled.

"The damn things trying to get us, what else am I supposed to do? Do you want to be the next cocoon?" Burt barked back.

Rose turned back to the cephalopod as Burt targeted it again. Wes was hesitating at grabbing her again and getting her out of harm's way. He also wanted to shoot the thing down. The creature released black ink smoke that had a pungent smell. It covered the area. The two started to cough and Rose grabbed the both of them and pulled them out of the smoke.


	5. Chapter 5

The three of them were coughing as the smoke began to dissipate. Rose had lost her goggles in the chaos. She still had her bag though, and started to rummage trying to find the next thing to draw it back. Nothing. Rose looked around and spotted both of the bottles. She snatched them up and started to clink them together. The creature was long gone.

"UGHHHH!" She fumed. "Burt!" Rose turned to him while he was trying to catch his breath. "See what you've done! It's gone because you chose to shoot it!"

Burt stood up still coughing. "Now, listen here." He contained his cough. Burt pointed his finger at her. "We could have been a cocoon right now if I hadn't taken a shot."

"Since you took that _shot_, look what happened," she gestured to the black smoke. "It had become defensive and created a diversion to get away." Looking to it, Rose dumped out the meat and headed over to the cloud. She started to capture the blank ink smoke into jar. Once she had some in, she closed the jar and placed it into her bag. "What happened to having all of the information?"

"Is she always like this?" Burt turned to his son, who had gotten up and took care of his breathing. Wes hunched his shoulders to answer him. Burt turned back to her. "I've had enough of the government not taking action."

"You had enough of the government in general," Rose slung the bag on. "So called monster hunter and you chase the damn thing away!"

"And your little jar music only distracted it for a little while," Burt retaliated.

"It distracted it," Rose got closer. "Have you even observed or hunted octopi? These things are invertebrates. They can fit their bodies in the tiniest places. They can solve problems and puzzles, regrow arms. Some even take shells or coconut halves and create a protective habitat." Her tone became less angry and more thoughtful. She saw the trucks in view and was thinking back to the invertebrate part. "Is there a water truck or some sort of containment that holds water or gas located in town?"

"Huh?" Wes was confused but trying to think of what she was planning.

"The junkyard might have something like that, why?" Burt got to the point.

"We could lure it in and contain it," Rose thought about the jars. "Release some sort of tranquilizer or have it in the bait, have the lid locked on all sides, and then ship it off for headquarters to take care of it. Put a few puzzles in there to keep it occupied while it's being shipped and the main lab can take care of it."

"You think it will work?" Burt raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Rose looked into the trees trying to spot it again. "The creature is hiding, taking shelter somewhere. Tell everyone to be on the lookout. It may find another area to hunt for food."

Burt was on the radio, informing their new plan.

"Why can't we just shoot it?" Tyler's voice asked over the radio. "It would save us a whole lot of trouble, over."

"Octopi have three hearts," Rose informed them. "Two pump blood through each of the gills, the third pumps blood through the body. Depending on which octopus this was created from, the mimic octopus is capable of changing their body shape, color, and movement to mimic other animals. Just shooting it doesn't seem like it will kill it."

"Well, that's just dandy now isn't it?" Burt grinded his teeth.

Rose rummaged through her bag again. "We may have an upper hand. This is crossed with a spider. Spiders are near sided, but then again the senses of the octopus makes up in what it lacks." She sighed, stopping herself from going further. "Let's head to the junkyard." Rose put on her bag and grabbed the net. She headed over to their vehicles.

Burt started to speak over the radio. "According to Webster, it's not going to work, the damned thing has three hearts, over."

Rose started to make a list of what things they might need. "Here. I'll see you there in a bit." She handed it to Wes. He started to read it over while she took off in her white Hummer. She headed to Chang's Market. Night was soon approaching and it was going to be harder for them to capture this creature.

Burt and Wes took off in their vehicle headed to the junkyard. Tyler met up with them while they were going over the list.

"A container like a water truck or propane tank, robe or heavy duty wire, crank shafts or bicycle parts, what in the world?" Tyler was reading over the list. "Where is she anyways?"

"She didn't tell me," Wes looked at the junkyard trying to find those items.

Rose entered the marketplace. The hikers there were being fed and treated with the antidote Casey had made. "Any of you hunted octopi before?"

They looked at her skeptical and then to one another. Each one slowly shaking their heads.

Jodi came around the corner. "I do." She raised her hand.

"Good, take any items you may need or want and then follow me, the rest of you be careful," Rose informed them. "It hunts during the night and won't just cocoon you for later. You leave the safety of this place and you will most certainly die." Jodi grabbed some things and headed out the door. Rose turned around to follow her.

"You heard the lady, let's shut the windows and the doors, put up some brocades, we don't want anything to come in," Nancy started to direct the group.

The two drove off to the junkyard. "Do you know how to flip their heads inside out?" Rose asked Jodi.

"I do," Jodi nodded.

"Good, it's going to take more than one of us to try that maneuver," Rose informed her.

"How big is it?" Jodi looked to her as they parked next to Wes' vehicle.

"The head and body about the size of a cow," Rose stepped out of her vehicle. Jodi's eyes grew wide. "Tentacles are about one and a half the length of it." The two met up with the three.

"Jodi what are you doing here?" Tyler asked.

"She's had experience hunting octopi," Rose explained. "Any luck?"

"There's a propane tank and docking rope," Wes pointed to the direction where they were at.

"Why is that we have to fight monsters in the junkyard?" Jodi sighed. "Every time. We might as well call this the monster battle ground."

"No time for comedy relief, grab the rope and meet up at the tank," Rose directed them. "A few of you need to be on the lookout if it comes this way. I need to find the rest of the items on our list." She started to walk away in search of the puzzles to keep it occupied. "Jodi, if you can find anything useful for the hunt then do so."

"I think she just took your spot as head monster hunter, Burt," Tyler looked over to him.

"For now," Burt watched her leave. "Let's do as she says and get this over with."

The group split up and did what they were told. Rose found some copper wires rolled up, she took the bundles and found some baby toys. She took those as well.

Burt and Wes were on the lookout while Jodi and Tyler were fixing up the tank with the docking rope.

"Find anything?" Rose asked Jodi.

"Not really, just another tank but it was cut in half," Jodi sighed. "I did bring some mollusks and other bait that it might like."

Rose stared at this tank. "It's not big enough."

They all stopped and stared at it. "What do you mean, it's not big enough?" Burt interjected.

"Where is this other tank?" Rose looked around.

"Over here," Jodi headed off to it. The group followed her.

It was a boiler tank cut in half. "Perfect," Rose smiled but no one saw it due to her outfit. She set the baby toys in the larger side of the tank. Jodi even placed some of the bait by them.

"Is it a young monster-thing?" Tyler scratched his head.

"Octopus like to play," Jodi explained as Wes and Rose moved the thick rope. Rose started to wrap it around the other end of the tank. "It keeps them occupied."

Tyler chuckled. "I see what you did there." He winked at her. Jodi chuckled.

Rose and Wes started to push the smaller part of the tank to the other one. The smaller part of the tank's edges had been dented in to let the tank slip in and out of the other side of the tank easier.

"There, now all we have to do is pull this one into there and we have an enclosure," Rose dusted herself off. "Burt, do you see anything?"

"No," Burt was using the night vision goggles.

"Alright, we have some more time, let's create a pull system to make it easier for us to capture it," Rose and the others began to work.

After they were just barely finished and taking a much needed break, El Blanco decided to rumble through. The group froze while he passed. Burt signaled that there were good to keep moving.

The people in the marketplace, were in constant fear. El Blanco's presence scared them even more. Nancy and Casey were having trouble keeping them quiet and content.

The creature started to slink back out of its hiding place in search of food. It headed towards the town. The creature was about to head towards the junkyard until it heard the sounds coming from Chang's Market.

"It's coming," Burt called out to them. "Except it's headed towards Chang's Market. Dammit! We're going to have to lure it here."

"No problem," Rose grabbed some mollusks. "Get ready." She started to run towards the market.

The cephalopod monster could hear the voices coming from inside. Rose got there just in time to see it scale the building. It shimmered to change color to hide itself.

"Shhh," Casey put her hands up. "I heard something."

The group went silent. The creature paused as well. Rose took this opportunity to throw a mollusk. It hit the wall. The creature stirred. She started to clink the mollusk against one another. It turned to her.

"That's it," she breathed. _If I survive this, I may just go down into the lab itself._ She started to back away slowly. The creature climbed down the wall and made its way over to her while changing colors once it hit the dirt.

The group inside heard the commotion and backed away from the wall.

Back at the junkyard the group was waiting for her. Wes was about to go get her.

"Do you see anything?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, she's got the damned thing's attention and it's following her," Burt looked through the goggles. "I lost it. It's changed colors, but it's coming this way. Get ready."

Rose wanted to turn around and run but if she did that thing would have her in its grasp at any moment. She could see it move every now and then but getting away from the market was making it harder. _I'm going to have to run._ She made her decision and turned around to start running.

The creature picked up its speed after her. It started to reach out for her but missed. It gained more speed. She could feel the thing behind her.

"Keep running," Burt yelled out to her. "Don't stop!"

She ran past Burt, towards the tank. It snagged her by a leg. "Gah!" It grabbed a mollusk out of her hand. She could hear the beak snapping from underneath. Fear started to freeze her in place.

"Get up!" He tried to get down to her. He saw that his son was going towards her. "No, stay there. She can handle it."

Rose cringed when she heard the crunch of the mollusk. She threw the other two in her hands at it while wiggling her way out of its tentacles. She had to hurry. If not, she would be cocooned or worse, eaten.

The crunching noises made her run even faster, but she had to wait and keep a steady pace. She had to remind herself that she was the bait. An idiotic idea now that she was mulling it over, but it had to be done.

The creature scuttled again. It smelled her. Rose could hear it, if she held her breath. She started to move again and head towards the tank. It started to gain speed. She could hear the junk falling behind her. It was right behind her. The beak clucked.

"Ah," she let out as she picked up pace. _Don't look back. Don't look back. Keep going. Don't stop. _The sound of metal clanging to the side of her. _No no no no no!_ She turned the corner and saw the tanks. She leapt in. The creature made its way in behind her. She tried to leap out but a tentacle twisted around her. "Close it!" She screamed.

"Get out of there!" Wes had a machete. He cut the tentacle off and pulled her through the tank at the last second, as the two halves came together. The fell to the ground. He started to pull her away from the area.

Rose started to rip off the tentacle that was suctioned to her. "Get the copper, make a-a barrier with it at any opening. It's harmful to them." She struggled to get it off. "Gahh!" She pulled it off but saw bloodied rings around her waist.

Wes maneuvered his self away from her. "You're bleeding!"

"Comes with the job, soldier," she cringed as she touched her wounds. "Ah! Dr. Mathews, she has an antidote." Wes picked her up while the other three secured the tank. "No, call the main lab. Have them come get it." She tried to struggle.

"I can do that while you receive the antidote, that thing isn't going anywhere," he headed on out.

"I'm beginning to dislike you more and more," Rose hissed.

Burt put his ear up to the tank. He heard the creature crunching down on something. Tyler and Jodi were unrolling the copper wire around the tank length ways making sure it would stay snug and that it wouldn't be able to slink out without harming itself.

"Secured!" Tyler looked over to Burt. He nodded back to him. Jodi put her ear up to the tank.

"It's occupied," Jodi could hear it playing around with the toys. She smiled. "We did it!"

"Where's the youngsters?" Tyler looked around.

"There not in there are they?" Jodi listened in.

Burt shook his head. "No, they were on the other side." The three ran around to the other side. The only thing they saw was a bloodied tentacle. Jodi picked it up.

"Wow," she looked at it. "We can put this on display."

"Jodi we have to get it to the officials," Tyler looked over to her.

"They get the creature, why can't we have a tentacle?" Jodi took it with her as the three started to head out. "Besides, they regrow. I don't think they will notice."

"I'll stay here to make sure the damned thing doesn't escape and wreak more havoc," Burt got back up to his post. "Inform me when the Feds arrive."

"Will do," Tyler nodded.

Wes knocked on the door. "I need help!" He yelled inside. "I need the antidote!"

"Just poison, nothing I can't handle," Rose murmured.

"Open the door!" He yelled again.

Nancy and Casey moved away the blockade and opened the door as fast as they could.

"Come in, hurry," Nancy closed the door. Wes laid Rose down on the counter.

"She needs the antidote," he moved the handkerchief away from her face to help her breath easier. The bloodied rings showing through her torso started to connect.

Casey grabbed a syringe and pulled out a glass bottle. She filled it up as fast as she could. "I need her arm."

Wes and Nancy took off Rose's jacket. He created a quick tourniquet out of the handkerchief.

"Call them," Rose breathed. She started to sweat. "Don't worry. Another will take my place if anything happens. Call them, now." She tried to reach out to him but her lack of strength got the better of her. "It's just mild venom. Nothing to be worried about. Not a blue ringed-oct." Rose blacked out.

Casey tapped the vein a couple times before she inserted the syringe. She pulled back to make sure she was in before inserting the serum. Nancy started to get bandages to dress her wounds. Jodi and Tyler came in at that moment.

"We're safe for now," Tyler explained to everyone. "It's in a container. If you want to leave, now would be the time."

The hikers didn't have to be told twice. They thanked them for saving them and their hospitality but gathered their belongings and hightailed it out of there.


	6. Chapter 6

Burt watched the hikers leave with a cloud of dust behind them. "Finally." He radioed the others. "Burt here, how is everything over there, over."

Tyler watched as Nancy took off Rose's scarf. Wes was calling the main lab to send a crew there now. Jodi was putting the tentacle in a jar.

"Everything's calm over here, over," Tyler stared wide eyed at Rose. Nancy drew in a breath. She quickly put the scarf over the other half of the face letting the nose and mouth open to air. Nancy looked overt to Tyler. She mouth to him. _We didn't see anything. _Tyler nodded. Casey was filling another syringe up.

"Someone want to call a doctor too," Casey flicked the syringe to let the bubbles rise up. "I may have a doctorate but not like this." She proceeded to insert the needle in another part of the vein and pushed the serum in.

"Too calm," Burt murmured as he watched the tank. "Tyler, when are the government officials arriving to pick up their carry-out, over."

Tyler looked over to Wes. The conversation seemed to be including an airlift, a doctor, and a container of some sort, which all would be heading to their location in less than an hour.

"Calvary is coming in less than an hour by air support with a container, over," Tyler informed him.

"How's our scientist, over," Burt was worried about her.

Tyler looked over to Casey and Nancy. The two women looked at one another then back to him. Tyler sighed before answering. "She's alive, blacked out but breathing. Casey gave her a good amount of the antidote. Over."

Burt sighed. _If she dies, then there goes my connection to the lab. _He looked at his watch. He hoped those damned feds get here quicker than they expected.

The beast started to knock against the tank. Burt whipped his head over to view it. He heard the sounds again coming from different part so the tank. It was trying to find a weak point.

Meanwhile, back in Rose's trailer her computers were picking up information from the sound equipment nestled against the lab. It was those clicking sounds. It had lasted for forty five minutes before it settled down and became silent.

Rose's complexion had gotten better in the meantime. Burt was watching the tank while listening for the air support to come in. He heard the faint noise and looked over head to where it was coming from. Wes had gone out to meet them. Burt came down off of his post and met up with Wes. Casey was talking with Jodi about the tentacle. The two were staring at it with curiosity. They were even thinking of spots of where to hide it when the federal agents won't find it.

Nancy grabbed Tyler. "We can't let anyone know we've seen her face."

"Are they going to deport her if we did?" Tyler was confused.

"I have no idea what will happen, but it will probably be just as bad for us," Nancy was afraid for her future. "I don't want the threat of having to relocate looming over me again."

"Relocate?" Tyler's eyes widen. "When did this happen?"

Nancy explained to him while the airplane loomed over head, dropping to the ground first was the container, men jumped out from both sides as the chopper hovered in place. Wes grabbed the guy with the medical patch to take him off towards the marketplace. Burt showed the others were the thing was being held in. The tank was rocking and constricting back and forth.

Part of the team brought the container over while the other half were securing around the tank. Burt watched them handle this, it was their faults anyways, letting a lab like that be created. However, he was still leery since none of them really knew how to handle such creatures.

Wes let the doctor in first. The doctor examined her as fast as he could. He tore her shirt to reveal ring marks. Casey was next to them answering questions the doctor had. He brought out fluids and hooked them on wall nail, put a catheter in, and checked her vitals one more time. He started to address her wounds, clean them up, and bandage them.

"Dr. Frankenstein will need more of the antidote, plenty of rest, and lots of fluids," the doctor sighed in relief. He looked over to Casey. "If you hadn't have given her the serum then you might have lost her. She has a great immunity to several toxins but compared to the load and the type it could have been fatal for her. Thank you. I would also like some of that antidote shipped to headquarters. You know the address. I'll stay with her until the creature is contained. I would also like some of the serum to come with us just in case some of our men get attacked if that's alright with you?"

Casey nodded the two of them began to discuss medical and biological theories.

"_Dr. Frankenstein?_" Tyler was perplexed by the name.

"Code name," Wes looked at the scientist's sleeping body.

"I thought Frankenstein was the monster's name?" Tyler crossed his arms.

Wes chuckled. "No. He was nameless but it wasn't wrong to call him Frankenstein. His creator was Dr. Victor Frankenstein. A scientist who defied the laws of nature, created him out of arrogance, to become God."

"Shouldn't that name be for the scientists who created these things not her?" Tyler still didn't understand.

"Yeah, but she's the only one who was the first choice for the job. The only one who was willingly to go into a place that defied the laws of nature, personally I thought her code name should have been Indiana Jones something more equivalent than that code name," Wes shrugged his shoulders.

"You must have a code name as well, what is it if you don't mind me asking?" Tyler was curious.

Wes smirked. "Her Majesty's Secret Service or S.S."

"It looks like this is the first time you have met her though," Tyler hinted at.

"It is," Wes looked at her arm that was taped up for the catheter to stay in place.

Voices were being overheard on the doctor's radio. "_Moving specimen into container. Take caution, over." "Roger that, over." _

The crew shifted their gaze over to the junkyard. The move was successful as they had Nitrogen tanks to spray the creature while they moved it. Burt watched in anticipation, hoping it was going well.

"_Specimen contained, over,_" the voice of the radio crackled. "_Retreat back to the aircraft, heading back to headquarters in five, over."_

The doctor explained the care that needs to be given before heading out. Wes showed him the way back. After the government agents left, the Wes and Burt headed back to marketplace. The group discussed what was going to happen to their new friend.

"One of us should take her in to properly watch over her," Nancy thrown in. "I can watch over her."

"I can as well," Jodi raised her hand while looking at the others.

"No, I'll take her," Wes stopped them from volunteering. "It's my job to watch over her. I can't let you take that burden."

"You're not taking her to Burt's place are you?" Casey looked over to Burt who looked to Wes.

Wes shook his head. "I'll watch her at her place. There, I can monitor and properly take care of her. If she ruins anything, she has all the medical equipment and supplies that I need."

Their seismo watches started to beep. Burt put his hand up, putting a finger down to show how close El Blanco was arriving. Wes and Nancy steadied the unconscious body and the bag of fluid as El Blanco passed through. Burt put his hand down once El Blanco was safely away.

"I'll bring her there now," Wes started to gather up the things around her before picking her up. Some of the others chipped in and helped out as well. The group followed him into her vehicle.

"So, is it alright for her to be seen now or what?" Tyler looked to Burt.

"I heard from the others that they are planning to overlook this since they caught a bigger specimen," Burt kept his voice low. "I guess the earlier types of specimens like squid we caught earlier was still too small."

"I don't like where this is heading," Tyler watched Wes get into the driver's seat. "This little town already has enough trouble."

Burt nodded and watched as the hummer was drove off. Wes sighed as he glanced over to the unconscious scientist. The plastic bag of fluids was swinging back and forth.

_What am I going to do?_ He focused on the road. _ I am going to have to write several reports, keep her stable, and try not to get into more trouble then we already are._

Once getting to her mobile facility, he placed her in the bed with the fluids hanging from a cabinet. He sat down next to her with his head placed in his hands.

"Dr. Frankenstein what sort of trouble did you get us into?" He blew out his breath through this nose as he picked his head back up. Wes laid down next to her while listening to her steady breathing.

The next morning, Rose woke up from her deep slumber. She looked at her arm that had a catheter taped in. Her eyes followed the line upwards. The bag was almost empty. Rose leaned up to look around. She saw a body sleeping at the foot of her bed.

"S.S. you ingrate," she mumbled. "You had to get involved." She started to move around.

Wes woke up due to her movement. He was startled by remembering that he was sleeping on her bed. Wes looked over to her. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at him. "I can take care of myself but thank you for everything you have done. Did the specimen get into the containment without trouble?"

Wes got up and crossed his arms at her. "Good morning to you too. Yes, the specimen was contained and is being escorted to the main lab. How are you feeling?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine," she looked down to her abdomen. She palpated herself feeling if the wounds were still damp. Rose decided to get up but Wes rushed over to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving anymore. "I'm. Fine."

"No you are not," Wes inclined. "You still need to rest. The operation is on a setback because you had to interfere. Now be good and stay down."

"I interfered because it escaped the boundary, it was my duty to fix the problem," she sighed as she pushed his hand off.

"Took you long enough to figure it out, we could have used your help earlier," Wes felt her forehead.

"Since you're here, hand me the gauze, vet wrap and the bandage scissors," Rose moved his hand away with hers. "It seems like you slept so the reports haven't been written."

Wes clenched his jaw and got the items she wanted. He handed the over to her. She gave him a small smile as she stopped the IV drip line. Rose took out her catheter and placed gauze with wrap around it to heal. Next, she moved onto the wrap around her torso.

Wes swiped the scissors out of her hands and started to cut the bandages for her.

"Why are you doing this? I know you dislike me," Rose watched him.

"I don't think I can say that I dislike you, it's just that I don't well you enough to make that judgement," Wes gave her a wink.

"It's not your duty to take care of me in this sort of situation," Rose saw the brown and red coloring that blossomed on the gauze.

Wes let out a chuckle. "No, the military guard is just there to make sure you don't die. This isn't my duty at all."

The radio on his side began to speak. "_Specimen contained and secured. Threat level one."_

"Now, miss, how would you like your bandages rewrapped?" Wes inclined an eyebrow.

Rose started down at the circular wounds that had healed with bruising. It was taking a bit longer for her to answer.

Wes placed his hand on hers. "It's going to be fine."

Wes got back to the bandages and took them all off. He cleaned them while she stayed silent.

Back in Perfection, Twitchell decided to show his face. Jodi was describing the monster Nancy who was going to make some ceramic figurines for it.

"Does this place ever have a lull at all?" Twitchell looked around. "For once can it be boring while I am not around."

Rosalita came in to shop. Twitchell went over to Nancy and Jodi.

"Is anyone listening to me?" Twitchell stopped their conversation. The three of them looked over to him. He set down a report. "This is the new protocol and information about the other government officials here."

Jodi picked it up and started reading. Nancy saw that he looked smug.

"Why are you so happy?" Nancy was concerned and curious.

"I get more jurisdiction over these two officials," Twitchell spotted the tentacle in the jar. He went over to it. "Any new information about escaped Mixmaster creatures goes to me as well so I can keep the people here in Perfection safe and sound."

"New creatures?" Rosalita called over to them. "This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder. As long as they don't touch my cattle or reach my place again I'll be fine." She noticed the jar as well. "Is that from the creature that escaped last night where all those soldier guys had to come in and get it?"

"Yes," Jodi was nervous. She didn't want it to be taken away.

"Rosalita," Twitchell noticed her. "I have gotten contacted by some of your family members, they wanted to meet with you, though they are too afraid of Perfection. They said that you haven't been answering them and were wondering if you were still alive."

"Oh?" This shocked Rosalita. "I'll just pay for this stuff and call them when I get back. I've gotten really busy with the cattle and the ranch, you know."

Jodi met her at the counter and Rosalita paid for the stuff before heading out. Rosalita stayed calm and tried not to bring attention to herself. She didn't bring herself to look back as she got in the truck and drove away at high speed.

"That was a close one," she sighed as drove away. "If they found out, who knows what will happen."

"What's wrong with her?" Twitchell watched her leave.

"Maybe she has family problems?" Jodi shrugged her shoulders. "She doesn't really know how to run a ranch but she inherited from Miguel. It could be that she didn't want it but it was left in her name."

Twitchell didn't say anything but decided that he was going to look into it once he got the chance. He headed out to Tyler's mechanic shop. Twitchell was going to ask him about Rosalita.

The next few days, Tyler's Grabiod Tours had gotten busy with the rumors of some creatures rather than graboids were lurking around.

"This isn't good," Burt looked at the parked cars in front of Chang's. "Just when I thought I would have some peace and prosperity, these yahoos have to come in and mess it all up." Burt walked into the market. He could hear whispers of the people around him.

"Did you know that there was an escaped creature that was just captured here recently?"

"Yeah, I heard it was like an offspring to one of the graboids."

"This place is like a breeding ground for weird things. Did you see that blog on the creatures here by Larry? He says there's an invisabat on the loose."

Burt made it over to Jodi who was waiting by the cash register.

"Do you hear about the things they are saying?" Burt kept his voice low. "Who was the slip up?"

"I don't know, but the plus side, we have been getting an increase of visitors," Jodi smiled as she looked at the people browsing.

"This isn't something to be happy about, for all we know they will interfere and become fodder for El Blanco and who knows what else," Burt shook his head. "Has Wesson checked in yet?"

"Your son?" Jodi looked over to him.

"It's still weird to say, but yes," Burt blinked.

"No, haven't seen him, his truck hasn't been touched and it hasn't moved so I am guessing he is still taking care of her," Jodi moved away to check out the next customer.

A couple of men walked through the door. They seemed sketchy to Burt but had clean and new clothes on with a sort of intimidation demeanor.

"Has these sort of guys been coming in lately?" Burt pointed his chin over to them. Jodi looked up from her cash register.

"Yeah, they just buy a few things and head out," Jodi went back to work.

"The same ones?" Burt watched them.

"Yeah," Jodi knitted her brows together while thinking. "You don't think they are part of the same group those other two were from?"

"Possibly, I don't think that sort of thing was ever settled," Burt watched them get a few drinks and some memorabilia. "Keep me informed if they show up again. I've got a bad feeling that they may be after El Blanco again or worse they are after someone here."

"I'm fine, you can take your post back in town again," Rose was going through the information of the new report that was sent to them.

"Headquarters has a few new policies that they are implementing, are you fine with them?" He read over her shoulder.

Rose paused. "It's our job. Emotions for the time being doesn't matter."

"A no questions asked kind of person," Wes smiled.

"Have you met this Larry who has a blog on the creatures in Perfection?" She turned around to him.

"Yes," Wes looked to her.

"Is it true he has an invisabat?" Rose was curious.

"Possibly, I told him to catch it to meet up with you," Wes was honest.

"He's drawing in far too much attention for Perfection," Rose looked back to her computer screen. She started to type and get a map of the town in view. "You see, his blog is capturing more people to visit. The recent rumors of headquarters coming in also didn't help. It's going to be harder to do our jobs with these new policies. I still have to set up more monitors."

Wes looked at the screen. Thermal dots showed the number of people in Perfection. Rose was linked in with the satellite.

"Do you know what your next objective is beside that one?" Wes counted the number of people. She was right this is going to get tougher. The new policies state that the scientist was allowed out of her boundary but only to keep research going with the lab. She was not allowed to interfere with Casey's research and vice versa. The two can team up but that's about it.

"The main objective is still collecting the creatures and sending them to headquarters," Rose informed him. "I am glad that headquarters have decided to become more open with the town people. Telling Twitchell that the Jurassic Artimia was lost was a mistake. The townspeople could be of some use, such as Larry for spotting an invisabat along with helping with the capture of the creatures."

"You asked them to, didn't you?" Wes moved away. "I heard that you fought tooth and nail for this operation to have certain glass walls."

"I had interned with the EPA in college, its' protocol to keep the people informed what's going on in their area," Rose explained. "Full cooperation is a must. Besides, the number of creatures in that lab is far beyond a years' worth of work. We'll be here for a while, why not start off on a good note." Rose looked through her files. "Speaking of which, the fish Donna and I have been waiting for has been biting." She listened to the recordings.


	7. Chapter 7

Wes put on headphones to listen with her. It was a strange sound of clicks in different frequency with different pitches. She sent one copy of the recording to headquarters while another copy was sent to Donna.

"That's coming from inside the lab?" Wes was shocked and concerned.

"The lowest level also is the secret level," Rose explained. "That's where the most dangerous Mixmaster creations were made. Whatever creature is there has been communicating with El Blanco. I am still on the entrance level. The creatures over there are the first ones I have caught." Wes took off his headphones and started at the direction of the glass doors.

"What is behind door number one?" Wes stood up to see.

"Don't open it," Rose warned. "Unless you want me to take care of you. I have concluded that they are porcupine, poisonous tree frog, with irritating voice like a peacock but the frequency is long range. I am surprised the townspeople haven't heard the screams yet."

Wes slowly opened the door. He heard the screeching and shut both doors when he saw something being shot in his direction.

"I warned you," Rose stood up to lock the doors. "I will have them ready to be caravanned to headquarters. I would have you helped me but I don't want you to be poisoned as well."

"What?! When?" Wes grabbed her without thinking.

"It doesn't matter, just the poison cause's hallucinations," Rose got away from his tight grip.

"How am I supposed to do my job when you're almost getting yourself killed?" Wes was angry, at himself and her.

Rose smiled. "Oh well, I got struck twice, so much for you doing your job."

Wes crossed his arms. "You're such a child. From now on, I go wherever you go."

Rose frowned. "No."

"That's not up to you," Wes smiled this time.

That night in a nearby town, one lady heard strange sounds in her newly bought abandoned country house that she was going to renovate.

"Hello?" She walked around the empty house trying to find the source. She turned on the light in the kitchen to see her DIY renovation books were scattered on the counter to the floor. She heard movement from the hallway. The lady flicked on the light and saw a giant white apparition. She screamed out in horror as it disappeared. The lady regained some composure enough to call the local police department only to be laughed at.

"A ghost? Ha hah ahhh hah!" The voice mocked her. "That's not in our jurisdiction. You'll need to call a monster hunter for that." The laughed at her while they hung up on her.

"A monster hunter?" She thought to herself. She pulled out her smartphone and started to search for someone who could help her. She stumbled onto one of Burt Gummer's survival school videos. The town he was from was not too far from him. She was going to visit him that morning.

Rose had gathered her monitors and headed out with Wes by her side. The two stopped at the market since Wes had been eating her out of her rations.

Jodi greeted them. She was stumped when she saw Rose. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," Rose handed her a list. "This is a list of food I order from this company. I cannot receive any more unless it's through a store. I will pay for the food, shipping and handling, and whatever costs you believe."

"Wow," her eyes grew wide. "Yeah I can get it for you. You must have been here long enough to go through so much."

"No, my rations weren't calculated to include for two," Rose frowned as she glanced over to Wes who was indifferent.

"Oh?" Jodi took the hint. She was about to walk away when an unexpected lady come through the doors. It was the same woman who had seen the apparition. Wes and Rose headed out. "Welcome to Perfection. If there is anything I can help you with, I am Jodi the owner of Chang's Market."

The woman was beautiful. She came up to them. "Do you know where I can find a mister Burt Gummer?"

"He's out but I can bring him back in from his daily rounds," Jodi smiled. "What is it that you need him for?"

"Oh, no that's fine, I'll just leave a message, and can you tell him Patricia Gilbert wants to speak with him," the woman left a note and headed out.

Patricia got back to her home. She heard noises again. "Anyone there, hello?" She wanted to search further but was too afraid to do anything. The sound was coming closer to her. It was just around the corner. She turned around it just as a stray cat meowed. "WAAAAAAAaaaHHHHHH!" She screamed in terror. Patricia looked down to see a stray tabby cat sitting and staring at her. She laughed at herself for thinking it was a ghost.

Burt came into the market. "Any mail for me?"

"Yes, and a note," Jodi handed it over to him.

"A note?" Burt raised his eyebrows. Jodi nodded. Burt read through the note. "A Patricia Gilbert, asking about monster hunting."

"A new fan?" Jodi teased.

"Maybe another yahoo like Larry," Burt looked through his mail.

"You're not going to call her?" Jodi looked at the note.

"Maybe later, I'm going to go check on the odd couple who have been putting new monitors and seismos in," Burt grabbed his stuff.

"Oh, do you know that he's going to be staying with her?" Jodi let it slip out.

"That's old news Jodi," Burt sighed. "We all know he is staying with her to make sure her wounds are taken care of."

"No, Burt, he's _staying_ with her for the rest of the time being," Jodi tried to make him realize this. "She came in ordered food for two."

"Good, I can rest in the meantime and not have to worry about him spying on me," Burt started to walk off.

"He's your son!" Jodi called to him.

"I'll believe that when I have paternity test results," Burt waived at her.

"But didn't you greet him as your son?" Jodi was confused.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Burt walked out the door.

Jodi just shook her head. Rosalita came in after Burt.

"What's _his_ problem?" Rosalita came over to her.

"Just being his usual self," Jodi let out a breath.

"Do you have any mail for me?" She leaned on the counter. "I saw that scientist lady with Burt's cute son heading off somewhere. I wonder what they're up to. Probably some afternoon romance."

"Burt went to go check on them," Jodi mentioned.

"Huh?" Rosalita looked through her mail after Jodi handed it to her. "Nada, nada, don't care, nada, what's this?" She read that it was from someone named Roberto with the same last name as her.

"Roberto Sanchez, any relation to you?" Jodi looked at the letter.

"Yeah," Rosalita was thinking about other things. "Gracias!" She put the letters together and waved goodbye as she headed out as well.

"What's with everyone?" Jodi went back to her working on her store. The phone rang. She answered, "Chang's Market Place, Jodi speaking, how may I help you?" She listened to the voice over the line. "Uh huh. Yep. No, this isn't some sort of trick. Graboids do exist. I'm sorry that you didn't get to see one while you visited. There is an app that is being currently in the works of being created that can let you locate El Blanco's existence." The person on the other line hung up on her. Jodi sighed as she regained her composure once again. "This is not my day." She started to go through her inventory list to see if anything else needed to be ordered.

Meanwhile, Rosalita was in her kitchen reading the letter that was sent to her. Her brother, Roberto was going to visit to see how the ranch was holding up and how she was doing. The two didn't really leave on good terms and he wanted to make amends.

"This is not good," she spoke aloud to herself. "Those men have been poking around and now _he_ wants to see what I am doing. I don't want to move again. I don't think I can keep this act up."

Harlow Winnemuca came into the kitchen. He was her hired hand. "What act?" He teased.

Rosalita jumped. She cursed in Spanish before turning around. "Don't do that! I thought you could be one of those nasty monsters that escaped." Harlow apologized as he got out a glass. "So my brother, Roberto, wants to visit but I don't think I can keep up the act of knowing how to run a ranch when he's around." She saved herself with her quick tongue.

"Oh, didn't you say you were on bad terms with some of the family?" Harlow opened the fridge to get some water.

"Yeah, that's why I was surprised to read his letter that he's coming here," she looked over the letter again. "I don't want to act like nothing happened between us, because things certainly did happen."

"Well, when's he coming?" Harlow took a drink of homemade lemonade.

"In a couple of days," Rosalita frowned. "I don't even want him to come. Who knows what kinds of things will happen when he's here? This place is like living in a war zone. You have to be careful where you step or bang! You get taken down by El Blanco or some new monster from that lab. I don't have time to babysit him when he's here, I have a ranch to run. Or at least try to run. Ugh. I'll just write him a letter telling him not to come and apology accepted. There. Problem solved." She headed out to find herself a piece of paper and an envelope so she could hopefully solve this problem.

It was horrible enough to see her past life coming and going in this little town. She thought the lifestyle change would keep her cover, but that proved wrong when two would be thugs showed up in their track suits and leather jackets trying to take down El Blanco. It was a close call. When she saw the two men in Chang's Market, it brought back how much she needs to stay here, but now that _Roberto_ is coming, this might make things more difficult.

Burt stopped his vehicle by the white hummer. He walked over to the two who were on the ground digging a small whole. He saw equipment next to them.

"More toys to bury in the local sandbox?" Burt stopped behind them. Wes looked around while Rose kept digging.

"Afternoon mister Gummer," Rose placed the equipment next to her into the hole. "Anything I can help you with?"

"I have markers placed all over this valley and the surrounding area, why do you need to place more?" Burt looked at his watch to confirm.

"Yes, but not in these exact locations," Rose stole a glance at Wes. "These specific locations are the exhaust points of the lab."

"This far out?" Burt had written down the other locations where she was placing her equipment at. He stalked her until he figured out what she was doing.

"That's how some of the creatures escaped, remember?" Rose dusted off her hands. Wes was done with his. She only heard silence from Burt. "No, mister Gummer, these are for you. I am tracking your every movement, what you wear, what you eat, how much it time it takes you to sleep, prepare yourself, and how long your rounds last so I can make a profile of you and hand it over to the government." She stood up and looked over at him.

Burt didn't enjoy the sarcasm. "I may be slightly eccentric but that's a bit overboard."

"You have not once greeted your son, you still have doubts that he is related to you, and you still want to know what goes on in the lab," Rose smiled.

"I thought we agreed that you would call me Burt, Rose," he smiled.

"Ah that's right," Rose gave him a smile as well. Wes did not like this conversation. He sensed that these two had met beforehand. "What information are you seeking now?"

"Depends on your answer," he glanced over to Wes then back to her.

Rose didn't even blink. "We're on the same side. It depends on your question."

"That's not the biggest thing in the whole facility or is it?" Burt asked.

"Who knows?" Rose shrugged her shoulders. "But I don't think it's the largest. Cletus hasn't contacted you, has he?"

"No, your _friends_ have been watching him or so I've heard," Burt crossed his arms.

"Good, I don't want him interfering," Rose felt Wes standing up next to her. "The lab is very dangerous, even for a survivalist or monster hunter like you Burt. Once I have everything cleaned and clutter taken out, I will let you visit the lab or what's left of it."

"I cannot allow you to do that," Wes clenched his jaw.

"He has saved my life, I owe him," Rose stared Burt straight in the eyes. "Besides, once I am done, it's going to be blown up again. Why not let Burt ease his paranoia by finally seeing the lab?"

"Wait, they're blowing it up, again?" Burt put his hand on his hip while holding up the other one and tried to figure out the situation. "Now when did they blow it up the first time? The towns people would have said something if they were here before me? There's no such thing as silent explosives."

"Classified information, it's above your pay grade," Rose teased. Wes sighed while crossing his arms. He didn't even get to know that information. It was above his pay grade for sure.

"Maybe that's why the graboids came about, the god damned heat from the explosion warmed them up and released it on us without knowing," Burt spat that conclusion out. "A few years later they grew and had us as food. Blasted government. They brought those things on us!"

"Who knows?" Rose looked over to Wes. "Causation, correlation, it doesn't really matter at the moment. What matters is that you keep watch over the little town." She looked over in that direction.

"Why is that?" Burt narrowed his eyes. "Is there something that the government is planning and you're bound by secrecy?"

"No," Rose gave a genuine laugh. Wes and Burt in unison cocked up and eyebrow in surprise at her. "Increase in visitors creates an increase in accidents and problems. Less people less probability. Besides I don't know that our presence further in the lab will make the creatures start to escape or fight back. I'll let you know once when we are inside the levels. Ready?" She looked back over to Wes. He nodded and the two headed back to the Hummer. "Good day Burt."

Wes didn't say anything as he was churning over the recent knowledge he had acquired. Wes got into the driver's seat as Rose watched Burt get into his vehicle.

"Our job is finished, we can get your truck now," Rose looked over to him. "I would like to finally drive."

"Your wounds are not healed fully and you still doze off now and then," Wes glanced over to her. "I fear you might drive into a boulder and become the graboid's next meal, even though I wouldn't mind that."

"Tch," Rose rolled her eyes. "You can be replaced just as well. Don't like it, get a new job."

"Easy Dr. Frankenstein," Wes scolded her. "We were teamed up due to our skills not our personalities."

"You got that right," Rose checked her phone for any updates. She had a smirk. "Want me to get DNA from him to do a paternity test?" She looked over to him with mischief.

He started to chuckle. "You don't think I haven't done a paternity test?"

"You have? How? With what?" Rose widened her eyes.

He turned his head over to her. "Mom still has some of his belongings, like one of his many Atlanta Hawk's hats. It still has some of his hair in some of them before he started to go bald."

Rose started to laugh then. "S.S. whenever you are going to show it to him please let me be there to watch."

"Perhaps, when the day you'll let me call you by your actual name and you'll call me by mine," Wes stared back at the road.

"We'll see if we ever get past being coworkers, I don't have many friends and I would like to keep it that way," Rose looked out the window.

Burt was still thinking about what Rose said. He drove back to Chang's Market. "Mixmaster, graboids, and those damned government officials have to ruin everything. Dammit!" He cursed and yelled while he floored it. He didn't like how this was going. It was true the things she said, but he didn't want it to come to his town this quickly. Burt started to create a plan for all of the increased visitors and how he was going to take action if something dangerous were to arrive. He decided to head back to his home and prepare.

He forgot about Patricia Gilbert and her important message.

Patricia had gotten courage as she believed that it was perhaps just the stray cat that had done this to her books. She had started on the destruction of the dining room that day. She stopped when she got hungry. Patricia had gave the cat some of her scraps. She put the dish in the sink. As she did she heard a similar noise. Patricia stopped while looking around. The cat moved around while meowing at her.

"Huh?" She shook her head. "Must be my imagination."

Patricia headed up to the bathroom to take a nice warm bath after all of the work she had done. The cat stayed downstairs.

Settling down into the bath for a few minutes, Patricia drifted off into slumber. She jolted awake as her brain reminded that she was still in the tub. Patricia got out of the now cold water. She tied on her robe. Noise came bumbling up the stairs.

"That darn cat," she sighed while unplugging the water in the tub letting it drain down. She put on her slippers and headed down the stairs. "I hope I remembered to put away the leftovers."

Patricia rounded the corner and saw a tall white ghost standing in front of the fridge. It was about to reach for the leftovers.

"AHHHHH!" She screamed at the top of her lungs while the cat moved in between her legs wanting to be petted. The ghost stared at her as she rolled her eyes back into her head before falling onto the ground unconscious. The ghost ate her leftovers and shut the fridge. The ghost left as soon as he came, which was through the back door on the patio.

Patricia woke up that morning in a daze and confusion. The cat had curled up next to her, sleeping as well.

"What happened?" Patricia looked around. She remembered and twisted her head over to the fridge. It was closed. Patricia scrambled over the fridge. She opened it to find that her leftovers were gone. "It ate it! It ate it!" Her hands were shaking the container. She dropped it and closed the fridge. "My phone. Where's my phone?"

Patricia grabbed her phone from the charging station. She dialed Jodi from Chang's Market. She had taken a business card if Burt didn't call her. "Hello, yes, hi, it's Patricia from yesterday, yeah the one that left a note for Burt yeah, uh huh, anyways, I have an emergency. I need help."

"Oh, okay," Jodi tried to handle the situation as calmly as she could. "Um, are you alright? Can you get over here safely?"

"Yes, yes I can," Patricia ran upstairs to change her clothes while she talked. "I'm safe in the daylight. It only comes out at night." She hung up the phone, got dressed and grabbed the cat. Patricia put the cat in the car, buckled herself in, and started her drive to Perfection.

"Burt, Jodi here come in over," Jodi clicked on the radio.

"Loud and clear Jodi, what do you need, over," Burt was just about to head onto his rounds.

"You never called Patricia over," Jodi was organizing her new figurines she just got in.

"Who? Over," Burt was confused.

"The note that I handed you yesterday," Jodi explained. "A Patricia Gilbert wanted to talk to you about monster hunting, over."

"What about it, over," Burt tried to remember but it didn't come into mind.

"She just called saying that she has an emergency, she's coming over this way as we speak. She said she's safe for now since it only comes out at night, over," Jodi walked over to the register.

Burt stopped and thought what _it_ could be. "Switching channels over." Burt switched over to Rose's channel. "Rose, Burt here come in, over."

The radio woke up the two who were still sleeping. Since Rose was still feeling the after affects and had to still get a dose of the antidote everyday she was had to take it leisurely for the time being. Rose was asleep on the bed while Wes was on the ground.

Rose fumbled for the radio as Burt repeated himself. "Rose here, over." Her voice still groggy as she spoke with her eyes closed.

Burt didn't have time for her games. "You better not being messing with me, I am in a situation here. You haven't went back into the lab have you, over."

"I knew the two of you were talking to one another," Wes rolled over.

"Yes and you shut our conversation off, but I still got what I wanted, nice try though," she laid on her back. "No Burt I have not accessed the lab, according to my keeper I am still on bedrest, over."

"Do you know if any of your things have escaped, over," Burt started walking again. He headed for his vehicle.

"Any of my things? Oh the creatures." Rose opened her eyes. She didn't let them adjust as she got out of bed. She stepped over Wes as she headed to the lab side. She flicked on the computer from sleep mode. Rose started to type away to get the readings from thermal, organic, seismic and infrared monitors. There was nothing. She clicked on the radio. "Nothing from the time setting the equipment up to now. If there was something that escaped beforehand I wouldn't know. Over."

"Are you sure you checked everything, over," Burt drove down to Chang's Market.

"Thorough," Rose sighed. She was still sleepy and had a minor headache. She didn't think the affects would last this long. She staggered a bit before looking through the other data. Rose view the timeline of the activity that went on throughout the years. There were some things but she had to know more before pinpointing. She clicked the radio. "I need more information, over."

"This _thing_ came out during the night, over," Burt sighed.

"At night," Rose typed away. There was nothing anything that drastic. She had managed to signify what creatures made the disturbances. "Nothing on my end, over."

Burt tossed his radio over on the passenger seat.

Rose tried to the use the walls and cabinets as balance as she made her way back. She forgot about Wes and tripped over him onto the bed.

"Hey you alright?" He leaned up and saw the blossoming of blood under her shirt. His eyes grew wide as he flung off the blankets getting up. He turned on the lights to see her more clearly. Rose was clenching her eyes shut.

"I'm fine," she spoke through a clenched jaw. He grabbed a small flash light to shine in her eyes. Her pupils were diluted and her breathing was normal. "It wasn't a blue ringed octopus. I won't die due to paralysis."

"The neurotoxins might have taken a toll since you told me yesterday all octopi have venom in their tentacles," Wes redressed her wounds. He even gave her an increased dosage of the antidote. "Besides if we weren't there on time, I don't think you would be alive right now. I believe you owe Dr. Mathews your life as well."

Rose groaned. "Ugh and she'll want my job in return. Ugh no." She started to move around. "If anything I need to save her life and then we are even."

"No moving, you're still on bed rest," Wes warned.

Rose covered her eyes with her arm. "At least turn out the light again so I can sleep some more."

"I told you not to work so late," Wes moved away and put the blankets over her.

"How considerate?" She felt the light was gone. Wes headed down to his makeshift bed. Rose felt a tinge guilty. "Alright, since you will be staying I don't mind sharing the bed but." Wes perked up. "If you lay one hand on me or get close to me in any way shape or form-"

"I read you loud and clear," Wes cut her off. He laid on top of her covers. "Besides the same goes for you."

"Ugh," Rose groaned before drifting back into slumber.

Burt stormed into the market. Patricia was waiting there with the cat in her arms.

"Mister Gummer," she outreached her hand to him. He looked at and held out his to hers. She shook it in a hurry. "Thank you for seeing me. I-I ha-ve a problem." She looked around.

"It's okay Patricia, remember we are in a place where we see many strange things on a daily basis," Jodi reassured her.

Patricia nodded her head. "I have a ghost problem."

Burt blinked. "A _ghost_ problem?"

"Yeah, I saw it the night before last, and last night it had opened my fridge up and I fainted," she explained as the cat purred in her arms. "At first that I thought it was this cat but when I saw it again, it was so tall and huge. This ghost must be a monster of some sort and I need your help to get rid of him."

"What color was the ghost?" Jodi tried to get more information.

"White, and so white that I couldn't see anything through it," Patricia looked over to her.

"What do you mean you couldn't see through it?" Burt cocked his head a bit.

"I could not see through it at all," Patricia looked between the both of them. "It blocked my view of the kitchen."

"And it only comes out at night," Burt tried to piece the information together. Patricia nodded her head. "Alright, I will investigate your situation."

Tyler walked in. "Woah, am I interrupting something?" He saw the three of them next to one another.

"Glad you're here," Burt turned to him. "We're going to do some investigating. She has a monster problem." Burt inclined to her. "Patricia this is Tyler, Tyler, this is Patricia."

Tyler smiled as he saw how beautiful she was. He walked over to her and shook her hand. "Sorry to have to meet like this."

"Thank you," she let go and started to pet the cat.

"We'll head to your place, investigate, and then you should head to somewhere safe while we stay the night to catch your monster," Burt explained.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," Patricia exclaimed.

The three headed off into their vehicles. Tyler rode with Burt. He explained to him the current situation he had gotten himself into.

"A ghost?" Tyler looked over to him as if he was strange. "Are you sure it wasn't something similar to the first so called ghost? Don't we need one of the good doctors to come with us?"

"I called one of them but she was asleep," Burt informed him.

"Oh, you called Dr. Frankenstein," Tyler shook his head. "Of course she was going to be asleep, do you know how much venom she got from that octopus thing? That medical doctor kept injecting her with the antidote. Shouldn't it be working? Once should have been enough? Wes has been by her side the whole time now."

"From what I gathered from Dr. Mathews, the antidote is sufficient enough, but she reconfigured it to make it more like an antibiotic since she only had samples from the saliva and not the tentacles themselves," Burt relayed the information. "She is currently working with Jodi's tentacle that she acquired to make a better antidote. Yes and it seems that he will be staying with her. At least both of the problems will stick together for now. More importantly, let's figure out what this _ghost_ is and get back to town. I still need to complete several new plans for the increase of visitors we are getting thanks to you and Jodi."

"This little town has got to flourish somehow, besides this is what Perfection is all about," Tyler argued with him. "It keeps this place interesting. Besides how else are we going to survive? How's El Blanco going to survive?"

Burt did a double take at him. "_El Blanco? El Blanco?_ You're worried about a _graboid? _The government is going to get rid of us or worse quarantine us due to damned lab!_"_

"You stuck in for quarantine might be actually nice," Tyler thought out loud. Burt looked down on him. Tyler raised his hands in the air as defeat. "Okay, that was a bad joke."


	8. Chapter 8

The two had arrived to the house. They searched everywhere, starting with the kitchen first then heading into the other rooms. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Burt took a look outside and noticed that there was a trail of some sort that was made by something that swept the sand as if something didn't want it to be followed or know its footprints.

"Did you find anything?" Tyler asked as he watched Burt look off into the horizon.

"There's a swept over trail hiding the footprints, could be a tail, it heads off in this direction but the wind has helped hide the rest of it," Burt clenched his fist. "We need to gather more information. This thing comes out at night, so we need to stay here until night comes. Let's get back inside and find good spots to hide. It has come into her kitchen twice."

The two waited in the room around the corner. Nothing came into the place. The two stayed up until dawn and still nothing was ever found. Burt and Tyler packed up and headed back to Perfection.

"Do you think this Patricia is just messing with us? She's cute but sometimes the cute ones are even trouble," Tyler yawned.

"Jodi said she was in a state of shock," Burt shook his head. "We need more information."

Patricia was waiting at Chang's for the two to come back. Jodi was waiting there with her. Rose and Wes had come in to get some supplies.

"Oh, those two make a nice couple," Patricia whispered to Jodi. "Who are they? Why would a young couple want to live in this sort of town?"

"Oh, you know it's different and interesting, and these two are thrill seekers," Jodi tried to make up a story.

Wes overheard them and placed his hand on Rose's shoulder as he steadied her while turning an aisle. She scolded him but left it on. Two finished their shopping and headed back to her facility. They had just transferred the specimens over to government officials to take into a different lab. They were at Chang's to get ingredients for the food they were going to prepare for the potluck the town usually had in a few days. The two had visited Dr. Casey Mathews at her facility. There she checked Rose's bandages and vitals to make sure everything was healing correctly. Casey took snapshots of her abdomen and how it was healing. Rose still had marks from the tentacles.

Rose was still weak and needed to rest. The pain wasn't subsiding. The three communicated with the doctor that saw her on the mission. He prescribed pain medicine and some other medication that would help her.

Back at the market place the Jody was trying to get information. "So, Patricia, what made you want to buy a house way out here?" Jodi tried to switch the subject.

"Oh, I love to renovate houses and that guy Melvin, from the Perfection Valley Ranchettes, gave me a good deal on it too," she smiled.

Wes gave into instinct and pulled Rose in closer as she was about to squat down for an item. He could see her sway. Rose got out of his grip and gave him a glare. "I can do it myself," Rose hinted at him to back off.

Jodi leaned over on the counter. "Melvin you say?" She tried to keep the focus on her and not the two in the aisle.

"Yeah, oh and he was so nice, he said he was going to stop by once I renovate it and help me sell it," Patricia added.

"Oh, how nice," Jodi tried to smile.

Patricia whispered. "Maybe these two would like to buy it?"

Jodi feigned a smile. "Who knows?"

Patricia moved out of the way to let the two get up to the cash register. The two nodded to her and headed out to the vehicle.

Rose got into the passenger side while Wes got into the driver's side.

"What was that all about?" Rose wanted to know. She could handle herself.

"Have you ever met Melvin?" Wes started up the vehicle.

Rose looked over to him. "Let me be more specific, why did you felt the need to stabilize me?"

"Oh," Wes backed up. "That. There's already enough eyes on us, it wouldn't help if you stumbled and fell to the ground."

"So you have something against Melvin?" Rose inclined after hearing his answer.

"You ever read his file?" Wes glanced at her.

"I have read his file, he is trying his best to make himself better," Rose answered. "Not the town's favorite, but he was there when the first documented graboid attack happened. His goal was to make this place a home for others just like it was for him."

"As I thought," Wes backed up the vehicle. "I met him on the way to Perfection. He has that going from him but he seems off putting. From the files, Melvin was the reason why dad got swallowed whole during the discovery of the third evolution of the graboids. He's uneducated and in risky situations will cause a horrible outcome. Hence my example."

"I don't think we will see much of him," Rose ignored his warning. "The files showed that he had tried and failed many times with Perfection and nearby towns surrounding it. He knows when to quit. Plus the government has this place protected. No suburbia or a town greater than thirty will ever grow here."

"You sure you don't want to go to the ER," Wes started to drive off. "Get a second opinion?"

"I am pretty sure, besides the hospitals aren't going to have what I need and how it's going to be too long to explain for a second opinion," Rose sighed and thought about the other situation. "I wonder how Burt and Tyler are doing with their current monster hunt." Rose wanted to speak to them over the radio but Wes grabbed it out of her hand.

Burt and Tyler made it into Chang's. Patricia was still talking up a storm to Jodi. She spotted the two coming in.

"Did you find anything?" Patricia sucked in a breath waiting for an answer.

"Some but nothing that would lead us to whatever it is that is harassing you," Burt explained. "We did find a trail but the wind carried it away. Nothing came into to your house. We didn't find any traces of anything either. You didn't smell anything or hear anything unusual?"

"No, wait maybe," Patricia was now thinking about it. "There was like a wet dog kind of smell." Burt and Tyler looked at one another at that comment.

"Okay, you stay here one more night, we have a plan," Tyler told Patricia. The two turned around and headed out. Tyler muttered to Burt. "We do have a plan, right?'

Burt nodded as he headed to his vehicle to get his radio. "Rose and Wes we need your assistance, over."

Wes gave Rose a knowing look as he pulled the hummer over. "You had to bring them up. Speak of the devil and they appear." Wes grabbed the radio. "Wes here, over."

"You sure one of your creatures didn't take a stroll while you were away, over," Burt looked to the mountains.

Rose rolled her eyes. "None of my monitors have shown any signs of life coming in or out of the facility. If he asks one more time-"

"-Still nothing, over," Wes winked.

"Ugh," Rose looked out the window. An itching sensation came over her abdomen as it always has with her current situation. She was about to itch it when Wes slapped her hand. "You did not just slap my hand away."

"No itching," he warned her waiting for the response from Burt.

"It would have been better if we never met and stayed anonymous," Rose muttered.

"You're not the only one," Wes agreed.

Rose put on headphones to listen to the sounds that she had recorded from the facility. If they were waiting for Burt she was at least going to try to work and drown out the irritating questions that already had an answer.

"Damn," Burt was trying to think on his feet. "Alright, I tried not to need you for this but I may have to have you come with me on this one. We have found nothing besides a cold trail. Over."

Wes thought about it. "Alright, it comes out at night right? I'll meet your there when its dark. Over." He looked over to Rose who had her eyes closed. _She's going to hate me even more._

That evening, Tyler and Burt were at the house waiting for Wes to arrive. He was in the hummer and not his vehicle. He got out to meet up with the two.

"So she let you off her leash?" Tyler was joking around.

"Actually, she's sleeping the back of the hummer," Wes walked past him to go into the house. Tyler looked to the hummer then to him.

"How in the hell did you manage that?" Tyler couldn't believe it.

"She takes the pain medication at night to sleep better and she's mostly out," Wes started to check around the house with Tyler on his trail. Burt was taking the other side. "She doesn't know that I brought her."

"M-mostly out?" Tyler stammered. "What do you mean mostly out?"

Wes let out a breath. "Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night. She hallucinates and has vivid dreams which can make her wake up."

"And you brought her out here, where there is a possible monster that could get her," Tyler was getting worried. "What are you thinking?"

"I could have left her and let something horrible get her there too, this way she will be in close proximity," Wes argued.

Burt came around hearing them chatter back and forth. "You keep raising your voices and whatever we need to find is going to run away."

Tyler went over to Burt. "He brought her along. She's asleep in the back of the hummer and she doesn't know she's here."

"You WHAT?" Burt exclaimed. The two tried to shush him next. Burt jerked around to see any movement coming from the hummer. "You brought her here without her consent?" Burt tried to whisper as much as he could without trying to wake her up. "In the middle of trying to catch something. Are you insane?"

Wes got into a protective stance before explaining. He used his hands to describe the situation. "I can't let her out of my sight. This was the best scenario I could come up with."

"Doesn't she know about this?" Tyler whispered.

"No, she had headphones on when we were talking about this," Wes looked at them with pleading eyes. "It will be fine."

"You better hope so, I am more afraid of what will happen when she finds out then what kind creature we will find," Tyler looked over to the hummer.

"Alright, let's get back to work before she wakes up," Burt ordered them. The three split up to take on different spots. Tyler had the upstairs to spot anything. Burt was on the outside by the house while Wes was hidden in one of the hallways to the kitchen.

The creature that had been there a few nights before hand was traveling back to the house. This time the creature had taken a different route. He came by the vehicles. Wes had cracked a few windows for Rose. The creature walked past the hummer but stopped when he heard the soft breathing of Rose. It backed up, swishing the white cloth it wore. The creature looked through the windows. Rose moved in her sleep. The creature was curious. It stepped around to the back where she was at. The creature found out how to open the door. He opened it without making too much noise. He pulled to door open to find bare feet. His eyes followed up to see what it was exactly.

The creature was curious. He has never been this close to human. He poked her foot. Rose jolted up into a sitting position. "Don't you dare tickle my feet Wes, or I'll," Rose's body was on auto defense. She was still asleep when she talked. Rose fell back over going into slumber. This had scared the creature that it slammed its back against Burt's vehicle sounding off the alarm. This didn't help the situation. The creature ran off with the cloth falling to the ground. He didn't even notice it had flown off. The three heard the ruckus and headed to the vehicles. Rose didn't wake up to the noise.

Burt was the first one on the scene. He rushed over shutting off the alarm while looking into the hummer. He saw that Rose was still in there before looking around for any clues. He looked down to see giant footprints. Wes got there next with Tyler hot on his trail. Wes opened the other door to find Rose was still there. He let out a breath in relief.

"You didn't lock the doors?" Tyler looked over Rose. Burt was following the foot prints.

"I forgot but at least I didn't have the alarm system on," Wes pointed out. Tyler looked around for Burt. He saw that he was following something. Tyler motioned to Wes to follow. The two left the doors open while they headed to him.

Burt came to an abrupt halt as the footprints were swept away by the wind. "Damn." He looked around with his flashlight to see that there was nothing out there.

"Did you find anything?" Tyler panted.

"No, trail ended up cold just like last time," Burt informed them. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, still knocked out," Wes nodded.

"There's something out there alright," Burt did another sweep again. The three headed back to further inspect. Burt looked at the dent in his jeep. He whistled at the size of the dent. He took out plaster for one of the footprints. Wes shut the doors on her.

Tyler went around the house making sure there was nothing in there before heading back over. "Nothing in the house or around it."

"We scared it off, I doubt it will come back but we will check again," Burt informed. "You better get her home before she wakes up and scares us." Wes nodded. He got in the hummer to head out. Burt and Tyler waited for the plaster to dry before picking it up. The two stared in disbelief to see the shape of a human foot only three times the size of a male's foot.

"Do you believe in urban legends?" Tyler gulped.

"It has to be something else," Burt didn't want to believe it.

"Is there such thing as a desert sasquatch?" Tyler asked.

"I don't know?" Burt placed it in his jeep. He looked down to see a white sheet. He picked it up to see two holes cut out of it. "White sheet?"

"She said it was so white that she couldn't see through it," Tyler saw the eye wholes. "You don't think?"

"We've seen so called people think aliens are abducting them," Burt shook his head. "Let's bring this to Dr. Mathews, maybe she could get some skin cells or hair from this." The two headed back into the jeep to visit her in the morning.

Rose didn't wake up as Wes put her back in bed. He slept in as she woke up early. Rose started to work through her daily routines. The clicking noises were there again. Rose wanted to know what creature was making it. She was itching to get down there again.

Wes started to stir a few hours later. He stretched to find that she wasn't there. He jerked around to see spot her sitting in the chair typing away.

"I didn't leave," Rose comforted him. "There is no need to worry. By the way, you didn't happen to touch my foot last night, did you?" She cast her eyes upon him with a hint of threat.

"No," Wes shook his head. "Must have been hallucinating again." _So it touched her foot, _he thought.

"I could have sworn you were going to tickle me," Rose went back to the laptop.

"And that would have been bad?" Wes got out of bed.

"For you yes, I dislike having my body put forth it defense mechanism," Rose informed him.

"Being ticklish is a defense mechanism?" Wes cocked his head to the side. "Why am I even asking? You know way too many interesting facts. Which did you hallucinate anything else last night?"

"I remember a breeze," Rose looked up to think about last night. "Somehow I was in a lucid state where I felt _someone_ poke my foot with a finger. I instinctively lurch forward threatening you about tickling me and that was it."

"Oh," Wes blinked. "You threatened me about touching you."

"We had boundaries set up," Rose looked through papers. "I dislike those who cross the line. That was more than crossing the line."

"Did you see me tickle you?" Wes changed into his day clothes.

"I was half asleep, I didn't see anything," Rose shook her head. "If I did, then I would have known that it was you."

"Well, it wasn't me, maybe a bug," Wes went for food.

Rose looked up. _It better not have been a bug._

Patricia was allowed to go home for the day. She was informed from Tyler that they did find something and were taking the clues to Dr. Mathews to further investigate.

Casey was looking at the foot cast. Roger whistled as he saw the size of it. "This is what you found?" She looked to the two of them.

"And a white sheet that may have hairs belonging to the creature," Tyler added. "You should also check the jeep for the dent it left."

The four went out to the jeep to see the dent. Casey started to take pictures of it. "Can you leave it here for a bit?"

"Do whatever you need," Tyler answered. Burt shot him a look. "Yeah, we can leave it for a bit." He shrugged at Burt.

Roger went back inside to get any hair and dead skin off of the white sheet. Casey took the skin cells and stained them to look under the microscope better. She found microbes and bacteria that were common on mammals. The hair that she saw under the microscope was coarse and thick similar again to mammals. Casey shook her head back and forth.

"It all points to a mammalian of some type," Casey began to believe that it could be possibly the urban legend. "I mean it could be."

Wes had some time away from Rose. He radioed the others. "I have some important information, over."

"What is it? Over," Burt replied.

"It touched her foot," Wes replied. "She thought it was me and decided to threaten me, I am guessing that it got scared bumped into your jeep and sounded the alarm, over."

"It touched her foot?" Roger crossed his arms. "It touched her, the scientist? He brought her out there. You guys are really asking for it."

"It must have been curious then," Casey was mulling it over. "It ate this lady's left overs. Didn't even mess up the house coming in or out. Hid its footprints. Wears a white sheet with eye holes cut out of it. I think it's safe to say that it's not threatening. Just curious and hungry."

Patricia was rummaging in her home for food when she found a note with exceptional penmanship. She read it as it explained an apology for causing a disturbance and eating her food. It would no longer bother her. She didn't have to hire out guards to protect her. It then described how tasty her food was and wished her good luck on renovating the house.

Patricia called Jodi to tell her the news. Jodi listened with wide eyes and an open mouth. She thanked her for the information before hanging up. Patricia told Jodi that she no longer needed Burt's help. Jodi took a breather before she radioed Burt.

"Burt, come in, Jodi here, over," Jodi waited for the response.

"What now," Burt grabbed the radio. "Burt here, over."

"Patricia got a note left by her ghost saying it would not bother her anymore and it complemented her on her cooking skill and wished her good luck on her renovation, over," Jodi relayed the message.

The four looked at the radio, stunned about what they just heard.

"It knows how to write," Tyler couldn't believe what he was hearing. "An intelligent sasquatch."

"It makes sense doesn't it?" Casey tried to make it sound logical. "It knew how to do human things, hid as a ghost, open doors, read, write, and hide its trail. I think it can be tangible."

Wes had heard Jodi's message. He was about to reply when he heard the door opening and Rose was coming back into the trailer. He switched it to another channel. Rose saw him flinch.

"Am I that scary?" She went back to working on the side dish for the pot luck today.

"N-no," Wes tried to play it cool.

"Sure," Rose nodded her head as if she agreed.

"Did you see anything odd while hallucinating? Something big and white or hairy?" Wes tried to be subtle.

Rose stopped what she was doing. "You might as well tell me what happened last night. Your question almost seemed phallic." She went back to working on the dish.

Wes didn't know what to say at first. "I'm not going to get fired for this?"

"Fired?" Rose looked to him. "What exactly happened?"

"I may have taken you to the place where Burt and Tyler were hired out to find a monster," Wes answered her while waiting for her anger.

"I can conclude that I was knocked out enough for you to put me in a vehicle, correct?" Rose stirred the dish around.

"Yes," Wes nodded. "And that the creature opened up the hummer's doors and poked your foot." He explained watching in anticipation.

"Creature touched my foot?" Rose stopped. She looked down at her foot. "So it was a bug?"

"No, more mammalian," Wes lifted an eyebrow to her strange behavior. She sat on the floor and took off her shoes. "What are you doing?" She took off her socks and examined her foot. Rose looked off into space before looking at the other foot.

"You said it touched my foot, did you even inspect my foot there after?" Rose saw nothing. She got up and rummaged through some drawers.

"N-no," Wes flipped the radio channel back.

Rose found a blue light LED flashlight with orange glasses. She sat down on her chair to inspect each foot. On the foot she found a latent fingerprint. She smiled first then laughed.

"Ugh, are you okay?" Wes looked between her foot and her.

"Get me the rest of the forensic kit please," Rose laughed. "I found a finger print. Mmm." She laughed again. "It's on my foot. And here I thought it was you. My deepest apologies."

Wes gave her the kit. She swabbed that area with fine powder that was fluorescent. She gently brushed away the excess powder. Next she grabbed a clear piece of tape to get the print off of her and set it down on a microscope slide. Rose looked at it then looked to him.

"If you are looking for clues, make sure you look," Rose smirked. "You never know what you are going to find."

"Make sure you wash your feet before you leave," Wes teased as he picked up the slide to look at it.

"Yes, mother," Rose headed over to the sink. She got a rag to wipe her foot off. He then explained the whole situation to her and the possible findings of a Sasquatch.

"A shocking discovery in science," Wes breathed.

"No, keep this quiet," Rose put her shoes and socks back on.

"Why? No one has that much proof on Bigfoot and now we do," Wes set it down.

"Some things are better left to mystery," Rose put the food in a dish and grabbed serving spoons. She headed out to put it into the vehicle.

He called out to her. "This is coming from the person who seeks out the unique and the weird."

"Sasquatch should be left in peace," Rose checked her wrist seismo to see where El Blanco was at. "If they had hidden from humans for hundreds of years, then it should stay that way."

Wes grabbed the radio while locking up the trailer. "Humans are making discoveries every day, especially you."

"Seventy-five to seventy percent of the world's ocean have not been searched," Rose started to get into the passenger seat.

"New technology, new discoveries," Wes teased. The two headed to Nancy's.

Nancy and Jodi were setting up her house to accommodate the guests. Harlow and Rosalita had just shown up.

"Hey, we're here," Rosalita knocked.

"Oh, come in, come in," Nancy waved her in. The two came in with food in their hands. Harlow had brought fry bread he made. Rosalita had brought dessert, arroz con leche. "Those look good. Set them here. The others should be here soon."

The four were talking about the things happening in town while Wes and Rose had pulled up. Rose grabbed the dish and serving utensil. Wes knocked on the door and was called to come in. He opened the door to let Rose head in first.

"Well hello," Nancy was surprised that they did show up. "Thanks for coming! The other two aren't here yet but that's okay. They usually bring beer anyways." Nancy took the dish from Rose's hands knowing that she was still hurt. The two followed Nancy to greet the rest of the town.

"So I hear that your brother Roberto is coming over to visit," Nancy talked to Rosalita in line getting food.

"Yeah, he was wanting to come check up on me and the ranch but I told him everything was fine," Rosalita dished some food onto her plate.

"Do you think he will still come?" Jodi added.

"I hope not," Rosalita put a carrot in her mouth. "He just brings trouble."

"So have you found out who keeps calling you?" Nancy switched subjects. She turned to Jodi.

"No, and they keep asking about El Blanco and the tours and just random information," Jodi explained. "They call, ask and then hang up. I don't understand."

"Where's your assistant, Larry?" Wes asked while getting food.

"Visiting his mother, thankfully," Jodi was relieved for a break. "But these phone calls and random men in suits are making it seem like there is something else going on."

Rose took in this information as much as she could. She had read the files the government had on each of them and knew that something was up. She knew about Rosalita's past. It wasn't her part to tell everyone about it. She didn't care but she did care about the safety of the town. If there were devious occurrences, her superiors wanted to be told first for it to be handled properly. They had heard about the attempts of killing the endangered albino graboid. Her mission was dedicated to ground zero however, there was a clause stating if there are any new information or threats to the graboid, headquarters were the first to hear.

"You wouldn't be able to hack phone records can you?" Rosalita looked to Rose.

"I am here for science," Rose sighed. "Town troubles are not my jurisdiction. You would have to talk to your government official for that kind of matter."

"Perfect," Jodi blew out a breath. "The only thing he will do is tell us to stop our income and just evict us."

The group sat around the table and kept the conversations going. Burt and Tyler finally came into the house with beer in tow. The two were taken aback as they spotted Rose and Wes. The two then went on as if nothing happened.


	9. Chapter 9

"Maybe we can just call him?" Rosalita shrugged her shoulders. "Or ask him when he comes back into town. So how did the monster hunting go, catch anything?" She looked over to them as they sat down.

"No, but according to Jodi the thing will never come back it got scared off by something else," Burt glance to Rose then back to them. Everyone besides Burt and Wes gazed at Rose for some kind of answer. Wes gave Burt a wry look. Burt looked to his food. Wes shook his head.

"Really, you scared it away?" Rosalita was shocked. "What kind of gun were you toting?"

"I didn't have a gun," Rose answered with a flat tone.

"Then it must have been your intimidation level, cause honey we all know you can be scary at times," Rosalita took a big bite off her fork and kept going. "If you need someone to talk to, I got you girl!" Rosalita liked Rose. She knew she was a tough independent woman like her. She doesn't need protection and can handle things on her own. "I can be very intimidating too, especially when you don't even notice you are."

"Thank you," Rose appreciated the comment. "I'll keep that in mind."

The group continued to eat. A couple times they stayed still when El Blanco would come through on his daily rounds.

A couple days later, Rosalita's brother, Roberto, had finally made it to town. He took a tour which didn't take too long. He strode along with the other tourists. The tourists had just come back from a Graboid Safari trip. They didn't get to see much but did feel the ground shake as  
El Blanco passed by when they were stopped.

"I didn't know the earth could move like that," one tourist was fanning themselves. They lowered their voice to speak to their friend next to them. "I wonder if it's the same when they mate?" The two started to laugh at their own joke.

Larry came in to interrupt them. "Actually graboids are hermaphrodites. They produce on their own and do not have to mate. So the ground would not actually shake in that way. Just so you know." He left them with embarrassed looks on their faces as he went up to Jodi who was busy at the moment with customers. He waited until she was done.

"Larry, how was visiting your mom?" Jodi asked once she got a break.

"Good, oh I got some new stuff in that I think you would appreciate," Larry had some boxes piled next to the register. "We can dig into when you have some free time. Not now with the customers. I don't want to step on your toes again. You may not like it."

"O-kay," Jodi nodded trying to not to get anxious about what he has in store for her.

Roberto was looking around the shop and found some trinkets that he thought was amusing. He waited in line to buy them. After going through the line and waiting for the rest of the tourists to clear out. He took his time to go back to his sister's place.

What all of Perfection didn't notice was two of the tourists were the same ones from Las Vegas. They weren't wearing suits anymore. The two had taken some wrist seimos and went scouting for El Blanco.

Rosalita was heading back into the house when she spotted a familiar vehicle coming to a stop. She stared wide eyed at her brother as he stepped out with a smile.

"No, no, no, NO!" Rosalita stood her ground. "You get right back in and leave!" She pointed him away. "I have a safe place here." She watched as her brother came up to her.

"Is that any way to treat your brother?" He embraced her as she tried to shove him away. He whispered into her ear. "Some of the brothers have let me know that they are hearing rumors of those _guys_ are snooping around here."

Rosalita stared into his eyes when they parted. He nodded to her. "I knew it! Do they know?"

Roberto started to calm her down. "No. They have no clue. That's why I came, to check up on you. It's getting bad out there. I heard that there were two encounters already with that group. Now, it's going to be a third."

"Let's go inside," Rosalita grabbed him by his arm and pulled him into the house. "How much do you know? Tell me everything."

Rose had gotten back down into the lab. Wes followed behind her. The lobby was given a thorough search over. Rose moved on from the lobby and its closet to the hall and first room. It was locked. Rose sighed as she took out tools to pick the lock.

Wes was on lookout while he glanced back at her. "Scientist knows how to pick locks. Cute."

Rose shook her head as she opened the door. "It's funny that they kept this locked. The place was blown up but they kept a locked door. Then again. It won't be the last. Let's see what fun things are hidden behind door number one."

"Ah-I don't think you can count this as fun," Wes put on the night vision goggles. Their light was restricted around them. They didn't want to hinder the habitat. He saw creatures scurry around at the end of the hall. His fingers flinched for his gun.

The room had metal file cabinets that each had a lock on them. Rose tried one but it was locked. She picked the lock and opened it. Only to find nothing. She figured each of these were hollow, but she could not assume. The only way to know the truth is to see if it was true.

As she was through the twentieth lock, she heard Wes's footsteps shuffle. She stopped to look over to him. He was in a defensive stance. She rolled her eyes and kept at the lock. The file opened to reveal some documents that were left there. Rose took them into her satchel and proceeded on.

"Can you hurry this up?" Wes called over to her. "There seems to be a group of somethings forming at the end of the hallway."

"What kind of animals do they look like?" Rose was three fourths of the way done. She had found more scattered papers.

"An armadillo looking thing with-is that an ant eater tongue?" He described in disgust. The creatures mouth opened up to show teeth similar of that from an angler fish. The creatures huddled together in a pack formation going after its prey. "Angler fish teeth."

Rose was thinking as she kept going. _Armadillo, defense and burrows. Ant eater, excellent sense of smell, high tolerance of fluctuations in body temperatures; the tongue itself has thousands of tiny hooks which hold insects with large amounts of saliva. Anglerfish teeth, basically a cage for prey when the fish is sucked in._

"Any other notable items I should know?" Rose called as she was near the last one.

"They are in formation to attack me as their prey," Wes took out his gun and pointed it at the closest creature that was coming towards him.

"Need more details," she yanked it open.

"V shape formation," Wes looked around him. "Don't see others trying to sneak their way in to catch me off guard."

"Last one," she yanked it open to see more scattered papers. She grabbed them to put in her satchel. There were no other drawers to open. Rose headed in front of Wes with an animal net gun.

"What are you doing?" He grabbed her after she fired the gun. The net flung out over the creatures as Rose was thrusted behind Wes.

"Look, I caught them," she turned his head to them.

"And you get to carry them back," Wes put his gun away.

"Gladly," she pushed past him to gather the creatures up in the net. The creatures were scrambling to get out. They noticed her coming and were backing away while screeching. Rose tightened the net to make sure none of them escaped. "You want to watch them or go get the cages we set out?"

"I'll go," Wes didn't want to stay with these creatures. He came back with cages in hand. The two of them were transferring them.

The thugs that were in Perfection had been scoping the Perfection out. They looked in the same spots the last thugs had looked at. They had gotten nothing. Instead they decided to set up camp. They parked on a rock.

"How long are we going to wait for that thing?" One of them asked while tapping his wrist seismo.

"I know it killed the others," the other one was looking through binoculars. "We need to find that key."

"Max, Dolores, Kinney," the first one hung his head.

"This the spot where the worm does his business so all we have to do is wait and dig," the second one looked over to the mounds that had been sifted through.

"What if someone already found it?" the first one wondered out loud.

"Then we will have to find them and get it from them," the other one pondered it as well. "There are ten people here. One of them is bound to have it if it's not here."

"Who do you think? That paranoid gun toting man, the playboy mechanic, Mrs. Rogers, dragon lady, the Trekkie, Tonto and Pocahontas, the fed, or the little mermaid and her assistant?" The first listed them off one by one.

"My best bet is on the paranoid guy, nothing can get out of his sight," the second one nodded. "You?"

"Ah I think the playboy or the little mermaid," he leaned on the car. "He has the tours and she is a scientist for this area."

The two kept waiting. Rose and Wes had the creatures in the cages and were back in the lab.

Wes looked at the creatures locked up in the cages. They hissed and screeched at him while others flung out their tongues. He fell on his rump as they did that.

"Don't tease them too much," Rose warned him as she looked through the papers she gathered. "If they are anteaters, then there must be some kind of insect they eat. Looking at their jaws it must be a giant insect of some sort or several smaller ones at one time."

"Are you going to dissect one?" He turned to look at her.

"No," Selena scanned the documents. "That's not my job."

"Are you saying that headquarters dissects them?" Wes looked back to the creatures. He felt a bit sad for them.

"I don't know," Rose sighed. She knew what he was asking. "They never allow me in. I'm just field work."

"So you want to work in headquarters?" Wes stood up.

"No," Rose tried to dismiss this subject.

"Oh, an adventurer," Wes teased. "You must have bland adventures with that attitude."

"It's not a trip to the zoo," Rose locked the glass doors behind him. "Headquarters only takes in those who can comply to their doings. Field workers, like me, may look grand and flashy but we refrained from stepping foot on the compound. It's similar to this lab we are working on."

"How bad are we talking here?" Wes didn't like the grim tone she was speaking in.

"Area 51 status," Rose confirmed.

Wes gave out a laugh. "You're not serious?" His weak smile turned grim when he saw how serious she looked. "Then all those creatures we are sending; do you get any reports back on them?"

"I have yet to hear anything more on their status," Rose looked away. She took out the leftovers.

"How are you so calm about this?" Wes didn't understand. He would be furious not to know how the rest of the research was going. They are all part of the team. If it wasn't for Rose's field work, they wouldn't have anything to base off of or the specimens that are now in their grasp. Even Burt and the rest of the town contributed. Then again, the Proudfoot Labs was the whole cause of this. Now, he understood where his dear old dad was coming from.

As the night settled on, the insects that had been in question started to swarm. The armadillo creatures got in formation to keep the insects at bay but since there wasn't enough of them due to the recent capture, a small swarm escaped around them as the rest fled back from the flicking of tongues.

This small swarm headed out of the facility. It headed out in single file to not be detected by other creatures. The swarm made its way out of the what would have been the main entrance. They headed towards a scent that had overpowered them. It was the scent of food. A food that had been plummeting due to high number of colonies. The insects were closing in on the mobile laboratory.

The armadillo creatures inside smelled the insects in the air. They began to screech and claw at the cages. Rose jumped straight up from her bed to see what was happening. This wasn't the usual screeching and clawing of animals that were frightened. These creatures were becoming aggressive and dangerous. She saw that the animals were becoming louder and more hostile. Wes woke up with a jolt. He moved his arm to feel that she wasn't there anymore. He grabbed his gun while heading out of bed. Wes glanced at the seismo to see that El Blanco was making his round towards them.

Rose opened the door, the wind blowing her hair around. The moon was bright enough that she didn't need a flashlight. She glanced back to the creatures as they were facing the same way as her. Their screeching increasing. She was glad that she took extra measures to keep them confined. Rose stared back out into the desert. Nothing. She then tried to step down, when Wes grabbed her from behind and hauled her away from the door. His back was up against glass when El Blanco moved underneath of them, rocking the trailer back and forth. The two were sitting down.

Wes sighed in relief as he rested his head against the glass. "Please tell me you are still under the octopus's effects."

"I wasn't thinking," Rose stared out the door. "Well, I was but not in that sort of sense. It's silent."

"Yeah, he won't be back for a while," Wes set his gun down. His arms were still wrapped around her.

"No, that's not what I meant," Rose looked behind them. "They're silent. Not moving. I wonder what had just happened." Wes let go of her as Rose turned to get on her knees. She stared at them through the glass. He looked with her as well. Rose looked back over to the desert.

"Maybe El Blanco scared them," Wes got up to close the door. He went back to her to help her up. Rose grasped his hand and got up.

"No, something else," Rose started to ponder.

"No, we are going back to sleep," Wes ordered her. "You still haven't fully recovered, and it's possible that a graboid scared them. You'll figure this out in the morning."

She still stood there not listening to him. She wondered if they could find any traces of what it was but with the night wind, the trail of it would be swept away. Along with the scent and all evidence that could provide whatever the culprit was.

Wes shook his head before he picked her up. She was flung over his shoulder like last time.

"Hey!" She came out of her trance.

"Oh, now you'll listen," Wes was annoyed. "We. Are. Going. To. Bed. That's an order."

"Keep the radio nearby," Rose spoke in defeat as she saw no warnings or movements from her computers as she was moved away. "There are no movements from my readings but something startled them. If I don't pick something up, then whatever it is, Burt may hear something."

"He has seismos just like you, I highly doubt he will, since it was El Blanco," Wes put her down as gentle and slow as he could.

"Quick to deduce," Rose got under the covers.

"The radio is on and loud enough for both to hear," Wes put the safety back on his gun. He placed it next to the radio. "If something happens, we will then proceed but now just sleep."

"You're no fun at all," Rose murmured before falling asleep. "Can't even let me work."

The swarm headed towards the two gangsters sleeping in the car. It was the same scent they encountered earlier. Their antennas clicked together as they didn't hear any noise from their predators. This excited them as there was no obstacle to get some food. These insects devoured any rubber material. The campers didn't move in the slightest as the car's tires were being ingested. The insects didn't stop there. Gaskets, windshield wipers, and anything else rubber their feelers picked up they ate. When they were finished with the car they headed towards the town.

The swarm ate hoses, shoes, floor linings, old sport equipment, toys, engine belts, certain paints, masks, and any other rubber product. They ate until they were full. The town had started on Tyler's house first. The insects burrowed down deep into seclusion to rest during the daytime before eating again at night.

That morning. The two gangsters woke up. Something seemed off.

"Hey! Wake up!" The other gangster tried to wake him up. "Something's wrong."

"Huh!" He woke up and looked around. "You woke me up from a good dream. I was beating the piss out of Frank."

"We can do that when we get back," the other one got out of the car. He looked around and saw nothing unusual. He shrugged his shoulders before taking a morning leak. He looked around and saw that the car was on its rims. He stared in surprise. "Hey man! Our tires are missing!"

"Whatcha talking about?" The other yawned. He scooted out of the car to see what the other was talking about. "No way man! How we gonna get back?"

In Perfection, the rest had woken up to Tyler's shouts of surprise and anger.

Jodi, Nancy, and Larry came over to see what the commotion was.

"Everything all right?" Nancy asked with her radio clutched in her hand.

"Nothing's all right!" Tyler fumed. "Something or someone stole all of my parts, the hose is missing, all of my tires are gone. Even my boots are missing! Who in their right mind would do something like this?" He stopped and looked at Larry. "You ain't playing some kind of prank are you?!"

Larry put his hands up. "I was asleep the whole night. Besides what would I do with your stuff?"

Tyler sighed. The group searched around to see what all was missing. They contacted Burt about the situation. He was making his rounds while he came across the two campers without tires. He picked them up and brought them back to town. Burt was suspicious of these two but he still listened to their story.

He came into town and met up with all of them at Tyler's place. The two gangsters went to phone their friends to come pick them up. Burt looked around Tyler's place.

"One common thing amongst everything missing is it's something rubber related," Burt mused. "No word from the other two?"

"Nothing," Jodi shook her head.

Rose and Wes were looking around the trailer for any clues of what happened that night. They didn't find anything.

"Hopeless," Rose sighed in defeat. "Let me do my work. Do not interfere again."

"Command rejected," Wes was scanning the area with his binoculars. "Ever since the octopus' incident, your safety is in jeopardy. Without coherent thinking you were going to end up as graboid food."

"You have a point," Rose brushed her hands off.

"Rose come in over," Burt interrupted.

She unhooked the radio from Wes's pants. "Hey!"

"Rose here, over," she rolled her eyes at Wes's complaints.

"We have a situation here, over," Burt tried coax her.

"Oh look, they have a situation," Rose gloated. "What's the situation, over."

Burt looked to the others. They sensed the tension on the other side.

"Lover's quarrel?" Tyler shrugged his shoulders.

"We have lots of rubber missing, over," Burt didn't like the taste of the words he just spoke.

"What am I the local Sheriff," Rose rolled her eyes. "Take this up with Twitchell. If you anything else that is actually pertaining to the lab, discuss it with Mathews first. Over."

"Well that was a waste," Tyler crossed his arms.

"No, not really," Burt was thinking. "They must have a situation themselves. She's making us go to the other scientist first. This could be related. The two campers I picked up also had their tires missing. Let's go ask what Dr. Mathews thinks about this situation. Find any remnant of rubber. There could be a clue on them."


	10. Chapter 10

"Was that necessary?" Wes stared her down.

"Yes," Rose didn't hesitate. "That is Casey's line of work. I have no reign over it. Besides, there is something off about last night. These creatures were in a frenzy. Similar frenzy that could be seen from sharks and certain species of whales that would attack a school of fish. If Burt and his gang asks Casey, she will find out what's wrong. While this is happening I will conduct my experiments on the captured creatures. Once everything is collected we will exchange information."

It dawned on Wes. "Oh, you don't want to take her work away. That's considerate of you. Though with whatever situation they have, you did happen to see the two campers waiting at El Blanco's fecal excretion site?"

"Yes," Rose headed back in with him following behind her. "We may need to report to HQ about town safety. Rosalita's brother, Roberto, is visiting. You know her background?"

"I'll let HQ know, you perform your experiments," Wes retrieved his cellphone while Rose prepared for the routine examinations.

Burt and Tyler took the small traces of rubber that were left to Casey. She took swabs and stained them onto microscopic slides. She even took one swab onto a petri dish to see what she could grow from it. Tyler looked at all the dishes she had accumulated. There were gross and disgusting to him. Some looked like mold while others had polka dots. Burt was waiting with radio in hand in case something was going to happen. He knew that there was going to be trouble but didn't know when it would start.

Casey didn't like what she was seeing. She remembered the incident with the cicada's. "Insect." She murmured.

"What?" Roger was recording all of their tests in the daily log.

"We have an insect infestation," she looked over to Tyler.

"No, you're not meaning those same damn bugs that we burnt up last time?" Tyler could feel his ears ring in pain already.

Casey shook her head. "Different. Those had ear piercing sounds. These are eating rubber. Grasshoppers have been known to eat rubber tires, mostly German made. Something in the rubber attracts them. Cockroaches have been known to eat rubber. Termites and silverfish. This is Mixmaster. These insects all can be mixed together so the tolerance of eating any kind of rubber is unknown. You said all of your tires were missing, gaskets, hoses, and even the car timing belts?"

"Yeah, but why was I the only one?" Tyler didn't understand.

"If they came from the lab, then there must be a depletion of rubber," Casey speculated. "They must have left their home for a food source. They could be more than likely coming back to eat more. Most of the Mixmaster creatures seem to be nocturnal. She didn't say anything on her end?"

"Wasn't her problem," Burt answered in a curt voice.

"It's not at the moment," Casey agreed. "They left her territory and are now in mine."

"She did seem distraught," Tyler added.

"They must have passed by her," Casey headed to her books she had brought. She flipped through some of the pages. "The first rubber scent would be her facility. If that happened, then she would be in the same situation." She looked up to confirm with Burt and Tyler. The two didn't have a clue if Rose had missing rubber. Casey looked back down while getting to spot she wanted to read. "Since she didn't let you know that her rubber materials were missing then that means they bypassed her and headed to Tyler's place. Next will be Larry's then so on and so forth. Why did they pass by her? If we are talking about a swarm here, they shouldn't have to be afraid."

"El Blanco did pass by the part of the lab," Burt pointed out. "Damned worm must have scared the things towards us."

"Possible, I don't see why not," Casey kept reading. "I'm going to try and find out what insect caused these sort of chewing marks. I'll radio you in when I have the full information."

The two left her to do her job while they headed back into Perfection. They stopped in horror as they saw Frank with the campers Burt had saved. The three were holding Jodi, Nancy, and Larry at gun point.

Burt parked the vehicle shutting it off. He brought his hands in the air. Tyler did the same thing. One of the gangsters pointed their gun at them.

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Tyler stepped out. "We can discuss this calmly. Just put down the guns."

Burt came out of the vehicle at the same slow pace. "I don't know who you are but you have a lot of nerve coming into our little town and threatening us like this. We can talk this out and cooperate if you put down your weapons."

"That's not gonna work you see," the gangster that was pointing his gun at them talked. "We are here to clean up this idiot's mess. We are looking for a key. Your damned slug ate our dear friend who had the key on him. It's been a while since he ate it and we searched through shit to find that there is no key. That means one of ya'll must have found it. My guess is that redneck Steve Irwin here has it." He looked over to Tyler.

"What key?" Tyler had no clue about a key.

"You know the key, the one for the locker," Frank believed he was lying.

The gangster hit upside the head. "Shut it or you're going to be first. Now, search him."

"Why me?" Frank rubbed the back of his head.

"You're the idiot who couldn't finish the job now do it!" The gangster snagged the gun out of Frank's hand. Frank was reluctant but went over to Tyler to search him. He patted him down and opened his shirt.

"He's clean," Frank sighed in defeat. He thought that Tyler had the key all along.

"Now, if it's not any of you, where's that scientist that is researching in the area, it must be on her," the gangster was talking about Casey.

The group stayed silent. It would be trouble if either of the scientists were named and their location was pointed out.

"Not gonna talk are ya?" The gangster was looking at each of them. "Then I'll start with the little Asian. She'll be the first one to go." He moved his gun towards her.

Just as he did, Rosalita and Roberto had come into town. Rosalita agreed to let Roberto know about her life here as long as he kept their act up on being Miguel's relatives. They walked around Chang's Market to the see the standoff.

Rosalita started to curse in Spanish. Roberto grabbed his sister to shield her.

"Well, well, well," the gangster smirked. He looked over to the two that came in pointing his gun over at them. "If it isn't the rest of the town. Don't move."

Another vehicle came into town but this one was all in black with dark tinted windows. It stopped in the middle of the road next to the commotion. The group all stared at who was coming out next. A young man in his thirties wearing a high priced suit and sunglasses came out.

"Boss, they won't talk," the other gangster who had been silent spoke up.

"We'll just have to make them," he smirked. He scanned the people that were held against their will. He stopped on Rosalita and Roberto. She was frozen in fear. "My, my. If it isn't the fiery Latina. Haven't see you in long while. You look different with a full set of clothing on."

This made her angry. She started to swear at him but her brother muffled her voice.

The guy let out a chuckle. "There's a key that has been misplaced. I want it back." He looked at all of them. "If I don't get it back, you're all going to be dead."

Larry tried to hold in his laughter. His fellow hostages stared at him in horror.

"You think this is funny?!" The gangster nudged him with the gun.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just," Larry kept laughing. "How are you going to find something that is missing if all of us are dead? That just makes your situation worse." He looked around to see the incredulous looks. He sobered up and remembered the situation. "Sorry. Sorry."

"It could make things easier," the boss smirked. "I don't have to worry about fighting or protests when I search all of your belongings."

Tyler thought of something on the spot. "This is a government sanctioned area. You're going to be in some serious jail time if they catch you."

"Are you hoping to rely on that government official named Twitchell?" The boss saw the hopes in their eyes. "He's right now delayed and distracted. He has no idea that soon the little town he was supposed to be watching over is eaten by that famous graboid, but then he'll won't have to deal with all of you. Makes both our jobs easier."

"There will be others," Tyler warned.

"What others? The scientist who is working in her dome with an assistant?" The boss knew about everything in the town. "As long as she keeps her nose to the grindstone and doesn't drive down, my guys that are watching her won't have to take her hostage. Your buddy Harlow, he can't come do to a traffic jam." He smirked at Rosalita. "Now, where's the key?"

They kept at a standstill. The boss then directed them to go all inside out of the sun. There he kept questioning them.

Rose had finished her exams. She came out of the glass case to see Wes biting his knuckles as he stared at the computer screen. "Is there a problem?"

"There are in a hostile situation," Wes pounded the table. "It's four against seven. The three must have guns pointed at them and the boss probably just showed up. They're looking for something."

"Gangsters became tourists to see El Blanco, both ventured off the trail to see him in action, one was eaten the other came back with another gangster for revenge, he two was eaten. Again the one from the first came back with the other's finance to seek revenge. She became a meal. Now three gangsters and the boss," Rose summed up the situation. "The one that first died must have had something on him or why else would they search through the feces and relentlessly keep coming back."

"Can anything be found after that?" Wes was talking about the GI tract in the Graboid.

"Yes," Rose took off her lab coat. "The usual, metal, bones, indigestible nutrients, and excess nutrients. I order you to rescue them and worry about that item later."

"Whatever they are looking for is around," Wes stood up. He started to equip himself.

Rose looked at the thermal spots on the computer. She zoomed out of the map to further read the situation and if there were any unusual beings lurking about. Rose switched to view the different heat signals. Nothing uncanny showed up on her screen. She then reviewed last night's readings.

Wes put his guns in his holsters. "I have a team coming in as well. Don't worry. I'll be right back." He started to head out.

"Not worried," Rose didn't even watch him leave.

He paused by the door with a smirk. "You're ordered to stay here." He headed out without looking back.

Rose whipped her head around to see the door slam. Her eyes narrowed. She then heard a small clunking sound. Rose jumped up to try to open the door. It wouldn't budge.

"You did not just lock me in here!" She pounded on the door.

The door muffled her raised voice. "You'll be fine." He headed out.

"That-that-that!" Rose paced back and forth. "I'm going to kill him before my research is done. Insolent! Ugh!" She paused. She then headed to the radio but stopped. If she said something now, then his plan would be useless. Rose went back to her computer. She memorized El Blanco's routes and expected arrival at certain points of Perfection. Rose got herself ready to head out.

Wes switched his radio to pick up on the current team coming in. He was in her hummer as he sped to the meet up location. The team met up, created the plan and started to execute it.

"So you have no idea what this key looks like, where it's at, or anything?" The boss summed up the lack of knowledge the town of Perfection had. "It's a silver Rijandael on a chain."

"A what?" Tyler didn't understand what he meant.

"It's a round key," Burt whispered to him.

"Oh," Tyler then understood.

Larry had the key. He didn't know that that key was the one. He had left it in his camper. He kept calm and tried to not them know he had it.

The boss kept explaining about the importance of the key while Wes and his team started close in on them. Burt was getting anxious. El Blanco should be coming through this way any minute now. Before the boss could speak another word, the group was surrounded by military men. Red laser pointers were all on the culprits. The gangsters put dropped their weapons in defeat. The team came in steady one by one keeping their guns locked on.

Wes took the citizens away from them one by one. Roberto and Rosalita were first. Then Nancy, Jodi, Larry, Tyler, and lastly Burt. The rest of his team proceeded to carry out detaining and reading their rights. Tyler informed one of the soldiers about the rest of the town's situation. The soldier radioed in backup to get the rest out of their predicament.

Burt started at his wrist seismo.

"Everything alright?" Wes kept his voice hushed.

"El Blanco was supposed to pass by three minutes ago," Burt clenched his hand.

"He could have eaten those gangsters that are keeping the rest of the town hostage," Wes made a logical guess.

"Likely scenario but he would still be coming by," Burt headed over to one of the seismo screens. The two saw that El Blanco was nowhere in the vicinity. "A meal doesn't hinder him from his routes." Burt looked over to him. "Where's the scientist?"

"Locked in her trailer," Wes hoped that she still was. He switched radio channels.

"Is everyone safe, over," Rose was repeating herself. She had binoculars and was standing on a giant residual boulder looking down at the town. In the sand were devices that pounded into the ground creating vibrations. They were used in emergency situations to attract El Blanco.

Wes clenched his jaw as he pulled out his satellite phone. He found her on GPS with El Blanco circling around her. Burt grabbed the radio out of his hand.

"Situation is under control," Burt looked at the phone. "So you have El Blanco, over."

"Yes, I thought a nice picnic would suffice between the two of us," Rose looked to where El Blanco was dismantling the devices one by one. "However, he's not too enthralled anymore, over."

"How long, over," Burt saw that the four had been put into vehicles. They were close to finishing up here.

"He will be done sipping tea in five minutes," Rose watched another device be ripped out of the ground. There is a sensor on the device that stops it entirely once it is out of the ground. Rose had set out six devices in total. El Blanco was halfway through. "And be expected at Chang's in ten depending on how much ruckus you make, over."

Burt relayed the information. The team doubled their pace. They left in ten minutes. Burt and the rest made sure the others were okay before freezing as El Blanco shook the town on his way through. Wes headed over to the Rose's location.

He saw that she was picking up the devices. Wes helped her. The devices were light enough to carry several by one person.

"Worm charmers," he speculated. "Next, you'll be riding the sandworm."

"Spice is life," Rose was putting them back in the tote. He handed them over to her.

"How did you escape?" Wes handed the devices he picked over to her.

"The roof," Rose shut off the devices. "We are going back to Perfection and I am getting my hummer back and you take your truck. Give me the keys." She stared him down.

He chuckled as he handed them over to her. The two headed the hummer.

Larry had gotten back into his camper. He found the key that he had picked up with his metal detector. He thought about who would be the most willing to drive him to Bixby without judging. There was only one. He put it back on himself and hid underneath his clothes. He wondered what exactly the treasures await. Larry became giddy and excited but remembered he had to remain calm. He heard a familiar vehicle stopping in town. He came out of his camper to see the town all together talking about the incident.

"How did you keep El Blanco away?" Jodi was curious as Rose took off her scarf.

"Special devices that create vibrations similar to prey," Rose explained.

"Like a charmer for a sandworm!" Larry knew that device. The two stared at him. "Hi I'm Larry. Never got to meet you. You're her. The scientist."

Rose smirked. She enjoyed reading his background. "Yes. I am her."

"This is amazing!" Larry shook her hand with excited vigor. "I know have a face to the mysterious scientist. You've eluded a lot of us for some time. Oh, I have not caught the invisabat yet. It's a bat that's invisible but you probably already know something about it."

This stopped Rose. "Who else knows about this bat?"

"Well that would be Tyler, Jodi, Nancy, Burt, two of the gangsters, Wes, my bloggers, and now you!" He had cocked his head to the side while thinking of the list.

"You have evidence of this bat?" Rose focused on the creature.

"Yeah! I got it on video, oh I'll go get it, be right back. Don't leave!" Larry hurried back to his trailer to retrieve his camcorder.

"Are you sure you want to indulge him like that?" Jodi watched him leave.

"If he has evidence, then it must be true," Rose turned back to her. "Besides his social manners are different to those who try to be normal. His is about references, comics, movies, television, fandoms. A truth seeker really. I don't see him being a person who could lie even if he wanted."

"Oh-kay," Jodi was taken back. "He does have his good points but he doesn't bug you on a daily basis."

"True," Rose nodded. "S.S. has already been on my nerves since day one."

"You mean Wes," Jodi bit her lip. "He seems nice. Charming in a military way."

"He coddles," Rose pointed out. "I got out of my facility by using one of the emergency exits since he believed it was a good idea to lock me in."

Jodi believed she heard way more then she needed. "You two have some serious issues."

Larry came back just in time to see the two were in awkward silence. "Here it is." He handed it over to her while pressing play. Rose watched and listened. "Did you see it?"

She handed it back over. "How far have you gotten with this bat?"

"I had it attack the two gangsters using hot dog as bait from a fishing pole," Larry shut the camcorder. "It hasn't taken the bait that I have been using."

"I'll send down a cage, try using insects or nectar as bait while using the cage," Rose gave him some pointers. "If the bat is invisible, it could be similar to dogs sniffing out cadavers or such things like that but this could be for finding hidden locations or certain materials that can only be shown under ultraviolet light. It would be interesting to find out the species. I entrust this job only to you Larry. You may get a reward."

"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted her.

"It's miss," Rose corrected him.

The three headed into the market as they heard the conversations.

"So you're not actually related to Miguel," Nancy was in shock.

"No, I'm not, I was a showgirl," Rosalita was explaining herself. Her brother was tense standing next to her. "I got in with some bad people and needed a new life. I heard about Miguel's ranch and with the help of my brother, we feigned being relatives and inherited the ranch. Well, I inherited the ranch. It was working so far so good, except those gangsters kept coming. I thought I would have to run for my life again."

"You didn't have to lie to us," Nancy tried to comfort her.

"It's not like I wanted to do so in the first place," Rosalita crossed her arms. "You saw how those men treated us. It would have been sooner rather than later; we might not have had the best of luck."

"You could have opened up to us anytime, we would have helped," Jodi chimed in.

"Don't you trust us?" Nancy added.

"This shouldn't be the first time we heard about this," Jodi pleaded. "We're your friends."

Rose didn't want to get into the conversation. Wes was thinking the same thing. The two of them knew about the situation beforehand. Tyler and Burt picked up on it.

"Did you two know about this?" Burt questioned them as if they were his children. The group looked over to them.

"Yes," Wes was honest.

"Wasn't my business," Rose challenged him.

This made Burt rethink his argument. He was about to speak but had to close his mouth. "Were you watching at least?"

"I am not Big Brother, I may work for the government but I won't sink that low," Rose looked at the rest of them. "There is a file on every one of you. You live in a dangerous place where the endangered species is ravenous without prejudice. Don't worry, I have a file too. Those who come close to this area all get on their watch list with files made in an instant no matter how long you stay. Even the tourists. If you want to keep the peace between all of you, I suggest spilling all your secrets now would be good. Now, I'll see all of you at the next pot luck, I have a wild game camera that needs to be watched." She turned around leaving them speechless.

"Does she annoy you just as much?" Jodi whispered to Wes as they watched her leave.

"In ways you can't even imagine," Wes shook his head. He knew that she was heading back down into the lobby.

He stayed behind to play mediator as the town of Perfection quarreled it out. At the end they left as friends. Rosalita was still going to take care of Miguel's ranch. Roberto was asked to come visit anytime he liked. Tyler spoke about his dad being in the military. Nancy vented about Mindy giving her troubles again. Jodi praised Larry for coming up with great ways to improve the store and the town even though he could be annoying at times. Burt was reluctant to say anything but he spoke a short paragraph about how nice it was for Wes to save them and have connections to keep trouble out of the town even though it was from the government.


	11. Chapter 11

The wild game camera showed a small swarm of insects heading out of the entrance. Rose ordered several zoo grade insect cages. As she sent her report, she saw that she had a couple memos from her colleagues in the HQ. The majority pertained to the diet the creatures that she had sent over to them. Rose took note.

Wes came into the trailer a few hours after her. "You picked the lock?"

"No, bolt cutters," Rose had been getting the creatures ready for transportation. "These are going to be the next ones to be transported. This extra cage is for Larry and his invisabat. I have sent for more cages, please pick them up as well."

"Anything happen worthwhile in the lab?" Wes looked at all the errands he would have to run.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Rose stretched. "Just some insects. That may be why we had that incident the other night. Cameras show that they made their way towards our direction. Fecal samples showed that they are insect eaters. Now all we have to do is find where the bugs went." She opened another cabinet to get the equipment she got to listen to animal sounds.

"Fecal samples?" Wes blinked. "Glad I wasn't here for that. Must have stunk."

That night, the locals in Perfection had forgotten about the missing rubber and the insects that caused it. Casey had been troubled from the gangsters as she did try to get in contact with the others. She had to restore her lab since the gangsters made a mess of it.

The insects came out of their hiding place and headed back to their smorgasbord. Larry's trailer was moving down centimeter by centimeter. The tires and gasket linings were the first to go. Some of the bugs headed inside to eat the rest of the rubber while the other group headed to next place. The intake of rubber was exponential causing the insects to grow in size along with appetite. Larry was sound asleep along with the rest.

Rose had messaged Casey but she had not replied back. Something was happening again. She radioed Casey.

"How's everything on your side, over," Rose was outside. She had been listening for any insect sounds.

Casey had been asleep. Cleaning up the mess had taken a toll emotionally and physically. "Stressful, had some intruders who destroyed a lot my samples, over." She was groggy and not in the mood.

Rose felt the pain. Lots of hard work only to be destroyed in a matter of seconds. "I'm sorry. Truly. Did you find something about what has been causing the scene in town? Over."

"Yes, insects that eat rubber, over," Casey kept her voice low as she heard the soft mumblings of her assistant.

Rose blinked before answering. "Any report about size, looks, anything? Over."

"No, why, over?" Casey wanted to go back to sleep and forget about the devastation that happened.

Rose jumped up, grabbed her equipment to run back to the trailer. It's middle of the night and these creatures were feeding again. That incident had set them back. The locals had gotten distracted. Rose switched channels.

"Burt, wake up over," Rose huffed. She had stationed herself above the actual entrance of the lab to find the holes the insects had made. She found some but there were no other traces. No answer from Burt as she was halfway back. "BURT! Wake the HELL up! We have a situation! Over!"

Burt jumped out of his bed as he heard the second part radio. Casey had not heard an answer from Rose. She tried to go back to sleep but her mind was trying to figure out what was going on. It wouldn't let her fall asleep. She grumbled as she got out of bed to figure out what was going on.

"Burt here, over," he checked his computer and seismograph for any warnings or disasters.

"Finally," Rose kept running while talking. "Anything-going-on-your-end-over."

Burt didn't see anything. He headed out of his home with binoculars to check on the town. Burt couldn't see anything out of the ordinary but he sensed danger. Burt headed into his vehicle to do a midnight check.

Casey had gotten dressed and headed out to check on the town. She wanted to see how the town was doing.

The two met up and conveyed the current situation. Burt spotted Larry's trailer. It was slowly rolling forward. The blocks of wood were not stopping the rims rolling forward on the plates.

"Wake the rest of the town up," Burt ordered Casey. "I'm going to get Larry out before he gets himself hurt." Casey nodded as she headed off to the Market while Burt ran to the trailer. It was locked. He banged on the door shouting Larry's name to wake him up.

Larry was slowly waking up. "No mom, I can't get you a Walmart discount. It's already discounted. Our prices are low already. Don't haggle. It's a set price."

"LARRY!" Burt banged on the back window.

Larry jerked up. "Huh?" He turned behind him. "Burt?"

"Get out of there now!" Burt yelled.

Larry flipped the blankets off of him to swing his feet onto the ground. _CRUNCH!_ Larry's foot stepped on one of the bugs. His bare foot felt the crunch of the exoskeleton being broken under his foot. He pulled his foot away with goo all over it. "Ewww!" He grabbed his key while wiping his foot on the floor. The bugs scattered away to find another food source. Larry opened the door. He was snagged by Burt to get out of the slowly moving trailer.

They heard a screech that sounded similar to a bat. The insects shuffled around before finding a place to hide. The invisabat had found a food source. It took an insect and headed back to its home to eat it.

"Invisabat!" Larry was excited.

"No time," Burt drug him to safety. "Your trailer moving is going to cause El Blanco to come back and with these insects eating the rubber we won't be able to get away."

"Insects?" Larry thought about his foot. "I stepped on one!" He started to hop with the one foot in the air pointing to it.

The other group of insects heard the screech emitted by the bat. They went into hiding as well. The town met up in the pajamas.

"What's going on?" Jodi was holding a flashlight.

"Insects are the culprit for the missing rubber," Tyler informed them.

"I stepped on one of them! They were in my trailer," Larry was anxious and excited. "See! Look at my foot. Oh, it was a gooey one!"

"Are there any more?" Casey started to feel the same.

"I don't know," Larry smiled. "Let's go check it out."

"Anyone else missing any rubber?" Casey looked at the others. "Or see any insects?"

They shook their heads but wanted to see what kind of bug it was. They followed them back to Larry's trailer. The trailer kept moving. It was close to edge of the plates.

"Tyler, help me stop the trailer for going any further," Burt was grabbing cinder blocks to put in front of the rims. Tyler grabbed more to put behind the rims.

Casey asked for Jodi's flashlight to search Larry's trailer. The group peered in as Casey was inside. She stopped near the bed and saw the dead skeleton that was big as a small dog. She had her radio on her.

"We got a problem, over," she radioed Rose.

Rose had made it back to her trailer. "How big of a problem over?" She opened the doors to see Wes scolding her while pointing to his watch.

"Insects the size of a small dog," Casey gulped. "I don't think they will stop growing with the food source they have available. I am afraid that they will lay eggs and we'll have more. Do you have any quick solutions, over?"

Wes and Rose were having a stare down.

"I have the predator, over," Rose smirked. Wes narrowed his eyes.

"We're going to need it," Casey looked around to find any others. "They just ate out all of the rubber that was on Larry's trailer including the tires. Raid and fly swatters are not going to keep them at bay, over. Does anyone have zip lock bags and tongs? I want to take this specimen with me. The other scientist has a solution. We just need to form a plan."

Larry handed her the items she asked for while the group decided to split up to see where these insects could be hiding at. Casey was to call Rose down with her solution.

"Great, eight legged freaks running around," Tyler was with Jodi. "Eating all the rubber. If something else is going to happen, we're sitting ducks."

"I wonder how big they are now?" Jodi had seen the bag.

"Who knows but I hope young guns have a big enough fly swatter because Burt doesn't have one" Tyler sighed.

Burt and Nancy were looking in the barn with Larry.

"Anything?" Burt called over to Larry.

"No," he shook his head. "The bat is hiding somewhere. It probably scared the bugs away."

"Just great," Burt sighed. "I wonder if we could bait these things out, burn some rubber or have it all in a pile somewhere." He was thinking out loud. If it wasn't one thing, it was another in this town.

Nancy screamed in fright. The two rushed over to her. "It was just a mouse," Nancy had a hand over her heart.

Burt looked at his watch. "Daylight is approaching. These things won't show up again until night time. Let's regroup." He radioed the others to regroup.

Casey made it back to her lab in time to wake up Roger to get back to experimenting. The two kept working on the insect while Burt would radio in some of the plans.

Rose had informed Wes the situation. The two got the creatures ready for transportation. Rose strapped small cameras and GPS systems on the creatures. She didn't want to lose them. Burt radioed with Wes to create a plan while Rose was handling the creatures. They regrouped with the rest of the town at Chang's Market. The creatures were in the hummer with black cloth over the cages.

Burt had a map out of the town. He had marked the areas where the bugs had been at. Jodi and Nancy were making tea to relax and keep awake. They didn't get much sleep especially since the bugs had created leaks in the faucets, ate away the rubber gasket for the windows and doors making it howl through their homes, and much more. The place was becoming a mess.

"So these ant eater things can wipe these giant-sized rubber eating termites things out?" Tyler was trying to get things cleared.

"I hope so," Nancy rubbed her arms. "My Venus fly traps would work but they are too small."

Rose cocked her head to the side and made a mental note. There could be something like that in the lab.

"What if these things don't get all of them?" Jodi was worried. She put all of the rubber made products in the freezer. They were all the merchandise that they had just gotten in.

"By the attack formation of these creatures, I think they would get all of them," Wes reassured them. "You'll see once she gets them out of the cages." Rose smirked. He still didn't like the looks of them.

"I wasn't there for the last bug incident and with Larry's quick thinking saved the town," Burt nodded to Larry who became bashful. "Now that we have more time to prepare and have adequate information we can accomplish this mission successfully."

_Starship Troopers_ theme song interpreted Burt's moment. It was coming from Rose's satellite cellphone.

"Excuse me," Rose flipped her phone out to see the report Casey had written.

"The only good bug is a dead bug," Larry muttered. Rose gave him a wink. He smiled.

"Exactly," Burt continued. "We will try to secure the bugs location in this area and those creatures will be unleashed here."

"Grasshopper, termite, ant, and beetle," Rose informed them. "It's growing at an astonishing rate. In less than twenty-four hours these insects have grown three times the size of what they were in the lab. It will be forty-eight hours we can expect the insects to be six times the size they were originally. Do you have a plan B just in case?"

"The invisabat," Larry perked up. "It did take one of the insects off. We can try and lure it."

"Plan C?" Tyler added.

"I'll think of something," Burt nodded.

Nighttime was approaching. The group got into their stations. Rose placed the cages in certain spots. Garden hoses and bicycle tires were laid out in a certain area. They just had to wait for bugs to come crawling. Burt had made a blow torch with a propane tank, a hose, and an old bell. He waited in another area in case the creatures didn't work. Larry was trying to get the bat out of the barn. He had every possible window and entry open.

The bugs started to come out of their hiding places. The bugs were now the size of a medium dog. Nancy and Jodi jumped back. Wes had his gun pointed down at the ground ready to shoot the insects. Rose had her hands on both cages. She waited until all the bugs came out of hiding.

"Make me proud," Rose pulled up gates. The creatures came out of the cages with fear and curiosity until it smelled its prey. They ran to their prey while flicking their tongues eating the prey with speed. The insects were then surrounded by the creatures. The number was dwindling. The invisabat heard the ruckus. It flew out to snatch a bug. It was too large for the bat and the two fell a few feet away.

Larry watched the scene. He took off his shirt and flung it on the two. He heard a crunch as he killed another bug but felt the squirm of the bat tried to fly out. He wrestled around until he got the bat under control.

The insects were gone and the creatures were sniffing the area. Rose followed them with the same type of gun she used to capture them. Burt walked along side of her. The two followed until they found insect eggs. Rose and Burt gaped in horror. Rose grabbed a jar to put some of them while Burt turned on the flame thrower. He started to torch the eggs. The fire sent the creatures running. Rose aimed her gun and caught them again. She pulled the net back over to her cages. Wes was helping Larry get the invisabat into a cage.

"Meal time is over," Rose placed them back in one by one. She took off the special made harnesses. "I'm going to miss them."

Wes and Larry came over to put the cage in the truck. They overheard her talking.

"You're attached to them that much?" Wes shook his head as the three of them put the cages next to invisabat. Larry was putting the cloth back over them.

"They are still part of nature," Rose justified as she took out the jar. "Still made by science."

"Are those eggs?" Larry examined it as she rotated the jar.

"Yes," Rose nodded. "These things were already onto their next life cycle. I wonder about the causation and correlation between an increased food source and their age. Back to experimenting. Good work on catching the bat, Larry."

"Th-thanks, it was nothing," he scratched the back of his head.

"There all yours," Rose patted the cages. Wes started to get into his truck.

"Oh, Wes, can you give me a ride I'm going to need more tires, obviously," he tried to laugh it off.

"Yeah, sure hop on in," Wes always tried to help him out. Rose headed back to base in her hummer.

Burt and Tyler made sure the fire was put out before helping Jodi and Nancy make a list of all the missing rubber items.


	12. Chapter 12

Jodi made lunch for them after the hard work they put in to keep their town together. Twitchell decided to show up as all of them were about to take a bite.

"What do we have here?" Twitchell was staring at the burgers and fries that were letting off steam. "Hey I'll have one as well." He ordered while grabbing files from under his elbow. "I have new information from the higher-ups." He handed out papers. "There will be new rules about how Perfection residents treat the new residents."

The group stared at one another with the same bewildered and confused look.

"New residents?" Tyler swiveled on his bar chair. "You mean Patricia, because last I heard that she is just going to renovate that place and resell it."

"This includes her," Twitchell continued. "With the steady increase in population and urbanization of the West, the higher-ups wanted to be ready. I'm just going to give you a quick summary. Number one, tourists are still on a need to know basis. Number two, those who become residents must go through a process unlike all of you who are grandfathered in. The four who are here for the government don't have to worry about things like that. Number three, the government is conducting certain drills for the safety of the town of Perfection."

"Woah, woah, woah," Tyler interrupted him. "Drills? Like what?"

"About damn time," Burt murmured. The rest of the town gave him scornful looks. "What? None of you concern yourselves with the safety and how to handle emergency situations. When I went off to handle the shriekers and came back to the assblasters, none of you had your gear working and didn't even care about your wellbeing."

"He does have a point," Jodi sighed as she set Twitchell's food down with his bill.

"You got that right," Tyler nodded.

"Anyways," Twitchell got back on track. "The drills will be made up by you, the town folk, but it must include certain criteria that the government mandated. There will be certain gear and emergency tools that will need to be included in all housing and buildings frequented by the town. You are to make copies of your drills, have them in these places I just mentioned and send copies to the government. New residents must be trained by the appointed safety and emergency volunteer." Everyone looked to Burt. "Looks like its unanimous that Burt Gummer is our appointed safety and emergency volunteer. Once all the drills are made, they will be practiced, and then the government will conduct mock scenarios so that the town of Perfection can handle any situation. Number four, this has nothing to do with me, but the higher-ups would like the town to be prepared for anything, and I am _mean_ anything. Surviving for a year without outside help, learning to live without electricity, since Gummer's your appointed volunteer, I bet he has loads of scenarios and preparations."

The rest of the group stared at him with lack of amusement. Burt was smug about the situation. Twitchell didn't pay attention as he dived into his meal. The group looked to one another as if they couldn't believe that Burt was basically getting what he wanted.

Wes dropped off Larry in Bixby. He would have drove him anywhere but Larry insisted to be dropped off at the bus station. Wes parted ways with him to meet up with the correspondent who had an animal transportation vehicle that was adapted for this kind of use. Wes received the supplies Rose had ordered along with some other equipment the government wanted to have in the town. After finishing the exchange, Wes headed back to Perfection.

Larry had gotten a bus ticket to Vegas. He had overheard the hushed conversation from the gangsters to pick up where this key might open. It took him a while to figure it out, but he had a few places. The casino was dark with twinkling lights off the gambling machines, smelled of smoke, and was full of diverse crowds. Larry breathed in before walking to the lockers. He reminded himself that he was an undercover spy and that this locker was his so he shouldn't be afraid. The locker was huge. He didn't sense that someone was watching him. He put the round key into the slot and to his surprise it turned for him to unlock. His heart pounded inside his chest as his hand was frozen in that spot. What was inside was the next thing that he wondered. Drugs? Dead body parts? Weapons? Secret gang war map? The locker opened with a squeak that made Larry flinch.

Inside was a black duffle bag. Larry took it as if he had always own it. No one had watched him or paid any attention to him. He headed out back to his motel room. Larry didn't open it. He sat on his bed at first, paced around the room to figure out what he wanted to do with it. He then hid in the closet but decided to try under the bed before ordering some take out. Larry came back in, checked on the hideout before he started to eat.

It was trivial for Larry, he wanted to open it but what if it was something terrible. He had to think of the next steps, should he tell the authorities, flush it down the toilet if it was drugs, give the guns to Burt who would probably appreciate it. It took a bit more time for Larry to finally come to a decision. He mustered up his courage to open the duffle bag. Inside were stacks of hundred dollar bills. His jaw dropped as he saw the money. He kept unzipping to find a couple hand guns. He yelped in surprise.

"Okay, calm down Larry," he spoke aloud to boost his confidence. "There is lots of money in there that we would only see in movies and there are hand guns on top of it. That shouldn't be a surprise, this was originally the gangsters, of course they need more guns." Larry thought about what he should do with the money. He knew he should give the guns to Burt, since the town always had some trouble, maybe he would keep one for himself. Now, about the money, Larry should give it to the authorities but the bugs ate all the rubber, that was going to cost some money. He could also help the rest of the town with their problems. "Okay, we just use some of the money to get us back on our feet then we will decide to give it to the authorities then. Yeah. That's sounds good." Larry liked that idea. He started on his plan of action.

Burt looked through the information Twitchell had given them. There was a whole list, Burt had to plan and prepare. He felt a bit giddy about this. He had several ideas on certain scenarios. It took him all day to come up with each scenario. The escape routes were drawn out on the maps along with directions. Burt created safety binders for each household and frequented buildings. There were even daily, monthly, and yearly check sheets to accompany these binders.

Wes got into town that evening, only to meet the town in Chang's. They were gathered for a meeting from Burt. He handed out the binders and paperwork that were to be posted in locations that were most accessed by people.

"You did all of this _today_?" Rosalita flipped through the binder. "No pues. Wow. You got too much time on your hands. Do you have to participate with us too?" She saw Wes bringing in boxes.

"Thankfully, no," Wes set down a few boxes before heading out to get more.

"Ahh, these must be the equipment the government wants us to have," Burt started to open them. "These also go in each household and frequented buildings in an easy accessible location." Burt was taking out the packages. There were hazard suits, hazard masks, spill kits, ear plugs, and more emergency preparedness items.

"What kind of scenarios is the government thinking we are getting to come across?" Tyler helped divide up the items.

Wes brought in the last box. He heard what Tyler asked. "It's due to the lab. She's been getting memos and results back from the HQ on certain creatures. They are preparing for the worst possible outcome."

"Flood protection, fire protection, hazardous waste protection, deathly gas protection, blizzard protection, acid rain protection, and so on," Nancy was reading off the list. "Are they serious? I can understand sandstorms but this is going overboard."

"Not overboard," Burt corrected. "That lab is just a giant can of worms and the scientist is slowly opening that lid. Who knows what will happen when its fully opened?"

"Where's Larry?" Jodi noticed that someone was missing.

"He had somewhere he wanted to go since I had to drop him off at the bus depot," Wes helped Tyler and Burt.

"Where could he wanted to go?" Nancy thought out loud.

"He just visited his mom," Jodi answered. "He did need to get new tires for his RV."

Wes headed away from the group after he finished as Burt was explaining to them when they needed to go through the emergency plans and to perform practice drills when everyone had free time. It was most likely going to be during the evenings since the town would be busy with tourists.

Rose had been working on her research while she had some peace and quiet. Wes came into the facility with boxes. Rose swiveled around to help him. They left the replacement cages in the truck while the smaller cages were brought inside.

Wes surveyed her work area. There were several papers and files spread out along with a headset. Her laptop had an assortment of windows opened. "Been busy."

"Yes," Rose let out an exasperated sigh while opening boxes. "I am receiving more communication from HQ. My projects have increased. My research on each creature needs more details. The thesis on each of them is not enough. The gathered information I have on the lab so far is insufficient. _Everything is insufficient._"

"You are thorough on everything and HQ says your work is insufficient," Wes was trying to comfort her. "Do they remember who they as this the lead researcher, because _Dr. Frankenstein_ does not mess around with science and research."

"Thanks S squared," Rose gave a brief smile as she took out a new camera with accessories.

"_S squared?_" Wes paused. "You are a geek."

"Correction, I am a nerd but I am a geek too," Rose grabbed GPS tracking devices.

"What's the difference?" Wes unpacked different types of nets.

"Nerd implies logical and fact based such as science, biology, and such, while geek implies fandoms such as movies, TV shows, games, and so on," Rose explained. "Sometimes I wish a blue box would show up to take me on an adventure."

"Yeah, I don't understand," Wes was confused.

"Maybe when we get some free time, we can binge watch on certain shows," Rose invited.

"The internet connection is only for work; have you been using it for personal use?" Wes raised an eyebrow.

"No," she scoffed. "Work, eat, sleep, repeat."

"HQ ordered to the town to have emergency plans for situations and have to do drills," Wes informed her with a teasing smile.

"Oh? Interesting," Rose broke down her box. "OSHA finally got through to HQ about this place. Good."

"Should we watch from the outskirts when they perform their drills? I'll bring popcorn," Wes chuckled.

"Sounds like a good break, especially when I am going to the lab tomorrow, I want to nab those pesky bugs and keep exploring each room," Rose mentioned her goals. The two were slowly getting used to one another.

Jodi and Nancy were discussing how troublesome this whole ordeal has become but it didn't stop there. They went through several topics as good friends would. They were sitting on the bar stools enjoying tea. Nancy had some new creations from her kiln. She was showing them to Jodi and the two got carried away.

"Have you ever been on one of those dating sites?" Nancy was curious about how effective it is especially with distance.

Jodi cocked her head to the side. "Depends on which one?"

Nancy let out a surprised laugh. "Which one? Are there that many?"

"Oh yeah," Jodi exaggerated her nod. "There's an array from phone apps to sites that you can use for free to a monthly fee. The websites are diverse enough for age specific. You could find a more mature man for your age or if you want a young feisty guy there's sites for those too." She winked.

Nancy gave a soft slap on her shoulder. "Noooo. Well, that does sound good. What am I thinking? I'll have to try it."

"I am on some already, but most have been more trouble than its worth," Jodi warned. "Majority just want the free milk, so do be careful."

"Well, I'll have to make sure that I get the free sausage too," Nancy winked at her. The two giggled while enjoying their time together.

Tyler and Burt were checking around the area for more bugs. Tyler stopped as he got a message on his phone.

"What's the holdup?" Burt thought there might be insects hiding somewhere.

"Oh, just a message from a beautiful southern lady," Tyler smiled at his phone.

"Is that all you do?" Burt shook his head. He started to remember a certain red head. He shook the thought out of his head. "This is the fifth time you've been smiling at your phone like an idiot."

Tyler whipped his head to Burt. "You've been counting?"

"It's distracting enough that I had to," Burt explained. He lifted some junk before setting it back on the ground.

"Well, don't knock it until you try it, you could find another lady," Tyler cooed.

Burt narrowed his eyes. "I don't want a lady; I want someone who can survive. Someone who can shoot a gun, self-reliant, adaptable, not afraid to defend herself…" He paused. He knew who he wanted but didn't want to say it.

"Here, we'll set up an account when we get back to your place and just try it," Tyler felt pity for him. Burt never talked about Heather. It was a rare occasion when he did. "You could just talk to them as well. Don't worry too much on a date, but it's just nice to have a conversation with the opposite sex."

"Okay, I'll try it _if_," Burt pondered on it. "You can stay off your phone for rest of the day. There might be more of these bugs lurking. I don't them to keep having a six-course meal from this town."

The two went through all the junk piles and didn't find any infestations that were made from Mixmaster. Rose and Wes had setup the traps for capturing the insects and more of the predators that ate them. The days passed by with the routine for each of the townsfolk. Tourists came bustling in, Tyler drove them around on his safari, Burt kept his watch over the town, Jodi held her ground with the influx of customers, and Nancy would use her creativity to sculpt new creatures and designs.

Larry came back with a new set of tires and replacements for the missing gaskets. Wes had picked him up from dropping off the insects and the creatures that were recently captured. He also had to pick up more equipment. Wes informed Larry about what was going on with the town. When the two got into town, Larry, Tyler, Burt, and Wes all collaborated to put the tires back on. Wes stayed in town to have a meal with all of them before heading back up.

Burt took this time to inform Larry on the emergency plan of action for each scenario. The specific time to train for the first few plans was tonight now that Larry had gotten back. Wes said his goodbyes to get Rose. He wanted her to see this. She was browsing through data to figure out her next course of action.

"Hey, _Frankenstein_," Wes swung the door open. "Grab your binoculars, we are going to watch them preform their drills." He had a brilliant smile.

Rose had her back to him. "Sure." She moved at her own pace which was too slow for him. He grabbed some snacks while she kept eyeing the screen while getting ready. She needed to focus on gathering more information. Wes closed her laptop. She blinked in surprise before all emotion drained from her face. "You're dead."

"After our break, let's go," Wes moved her along. The two got in his truck to travel to the top of a hill. He parked it with the bed facing the town. He set his tailgate down for the two to sit on. They got their binoculars out and watched to comedy unfold.

Burt had signaled with his radio to start the first drill. It was if there was a graboid attack.

"An unidentified graboid, not El Blanco, is heading towards the town from the east by north east at twenty miles per hour," Burt explained over the radio.

Nancy ran over to the market to follow Jodi up on the ladder. The two were up on the roof. Tyler and Larry hurried their way to follow suit.

"Good, you made it all in time before the graboid even made it into town," Burt complemented. "Now, on to the next plan of action, when that graboid turns into shriekers." The group dispersed. The group ran to Chang's again only this time, all of them ended up being in the freezer. Burt complemented them again. They went onto the third plan, when the shriekers turned into assblasters. It was the same reaction as the shriekers but this time they had food ready.

It was a few hours before the town took a break. They went through a toxic gas scenario which had them in certain suits with masks, a flood scenario where they acted as if there was water everywhere and the had to swim to high places, a fire scenario where they practiced escaping from each place, and a few more. It had Wes and Rose laughing until their sides ached. The two knew how much trouble it was to go through those action plans and that was just half of the cause of the laughter. Swimming in the phantom flood was the best scenario. They even practiced rescuing a drowning victim which was played by Larry.


End file.
